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LIVES

or THE

AUCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY.

VOL. VI.

LIVES

OF THE

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY.

WALTER FARQUHAR HOOK, D.D. F.R.S.

DEAN OF CHICHESTER.
Ynl.r.MK VI.

History which may be called jiMt and perfect history U of three kind*, according to the object which it
propoundeth or pretendeth to represent : for it either reprewnteth a time, or a person, or an action. Tte
fint we caU Chronicle*, the second Lire*, and the third Sarrati»e» or Relation*. Of these, although Chronicle*
be the moat complete and absolute .kind of history, and hath most estimation and glory, yet Lire* excelleth iu
profit and use. and Narratives or Relations in verily or sincerity. Lo»D BACOX

LONDON:
RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET,

|)ublis|jtr in ©rbinarg to |ur glajtstn.
1868.

fit/lit oj traiislat -

LONDON :

K. CLAY, SON, AND TAYLOR, I'Hl.N'TLKS.
BREAD STREET HILL.

CONTENTS

THE SIXTH V 0 L U M K.

BOOK IV.

T II K R E F f> R .I/ A T I » .V.

rH.vlTKl; I.

I X T H« i D U r T" \\ Y.

The one Duty of an Incorporated Society. — The Church a Society
incorporated by Christ out Lord. — Its special Duty to propagate
the Gospel. — Study of Theology necessary to an Ecclesiastical
Historian. — Xo exertion of Intellect can discover that there is a
future State of Existence. — This can only be known by a Reve-
lation from God. — Revealed Religion is a transniissive Religion.
— Compulsion allowable to induce Men to accept Revealed
Truth. — Men compelled by Education, and by the Institutions
of their Country. — Intolerance of Man. — Intolerance of Literary
and Scientific Men. — Intolerance of Politicians. — Moral Persecu-
tions in the Religious AVorld. — Evils of anonymous Journalism.
— Persecution forbidden in Scripture. — All the Reformers in-
tolerant.— Struggle of the Church of England from the Conquest
against Popery. — Reformers. — Wiclif. — Reformers at Pisa, Con-
stance, and Basle. — Luther. — Modern Romanism established as a
Sect at the Council of Trent. — English Reformation. — All the
Reformers repudiated Chillingworth's Dogma. — The Bible only
the Religion of Protestants. — Confessions of Faith. — English
Reformation the Re-establishment of Primitive Christianitv. —

VI CONTEXTS OF

Romish Reformation at Trent established Medievalism. — Con-
tinuity and Perpetuity of the Church of England. — The old
Catholic Church reformed. — No new Sect. — Malignant or party
Use of the title Catholic. — Royal Supremacy. — The Sovereign
not the Head of the Church. — Suppression of Monasteries. —
Character of drum well. — Object of Introductory Chapters. —
From the Reformation Primates gradually retired from Politics.
— The Reformation Period, from time of King Henry VIII.
and Archbishop Warham to that of Charles II. and Archbishop
Juxon. — Our present Position dependent upon the Reformation
of 1662. — Party Spirit displayed in Writers of the History of the
Reformation. — Character of the Historians. — Foxe not trust-
worthy.— This Work composed from Public Documents. — No
great or master Mind among our Reformers. — Advantage of this.
— English Reformation a providential Blessing. . Par/? I

CHAP. II.

WILLIAM WARHAM.

THE SIXTH VOLUME. Vli

d, latf.rf. — Amicable Relations between Warham and Wolsey. —
Their occasional Misunderstandings. — Warham's Retirement
from Public Life. — His Patronage of the Reformers before the
Reformation. — His Conduct as Chancellor of Oxford. — The
Reforms introduced at the University. — An Account of the
leading Literary Men of the Day, Friends of Warham. — Warham
the Patron and Protector of Colet. — The intimate Friend of
Erasmus. — Erasmus in England. — Erasmus speaks of Warham
L married Man. — Question of Warham's Marriage considered.
—Royal Divorce. — Wolsey sounds Warham on the Subject —
Warham inclined, though passive, to side with the King. — The
Public first in favour of a Divorce. — Indignation and Discontent
when. Announcement was made of the King's intended Marriage
with Ann Boleyn. — Wolsey in Disgrace. — Cranmer and Crum-
well secret Advisers of the King. — Royal Supremacy mooted. —
Account of Dr. Standish. — Matronage of England insulted by
the King's proposed Marriage with his Mistress. — Clergy vehe-
ment in their Denunciation of the Marriage. — Pulpits silenced.
—Henry determined to punish the Clergy. — Parliament of 1529.
—Bills affecting the Clergy. — Clergy involved in the Penalties
of Praemunire. — Convocation of Canterbury. — Latimer's Recanta-
tion.— House of Commons attack the Ordinaries. — Ordinaries as
distinguished from Bishops. — Gardyner's Reply. — Royal Su-
premacy admitted by Convocation long before it was asserted by
Parliament. — Discussions on this Subject — Warham's View of

it — Submission of the Clergy. — Opposition in Convocation.

Concessions on both sides.— Warham in favour with the King.
—Prepares for Death.— La>t Illue.-s.— His Disregard of Money.
—Dies poor. — Obsequies. — Benefaction- . . Page 155

CHAP. III.

THOMAS CKAXMER.

Preliminary Observations. — Craurner opposed to Protestantism in
early Life. —Parentage and Birth. — His early Education. — Sent
to Cambridge. — Is elected a Fellow of Jesus. — His first Mar-

Vlll CONTENTS OF THE SIXTH VOLUME.

riage. — His Life at the Dolphin. — Appointed Beader of Buck-
ingham College. — Becomes a Widower, and is restored to his
Fellowship. — Whether he was offered Promotion in Wolsey's
College at Oxford, doubtful. — Proceeds to the Degree of D.D. —
Does not distinguish himself at the University. — Discharges the
routine Duties of a Master of Arts and a Doctor. — Becomes
Tutor to Mr. Cressy's Children. — Introduction to Henry VIII.
— The Divorce Case. — Cranmer sent with Embassy to Home, to
plead the King's Cause. — He is favourably received by the Papal
Aiithorities. — The Pope confers upon him the Office of Grand
Penitentiary of England. — Opinions of the Universities on the
Divorce Case. — Cranmer returns to England. — His Opinion of
Pole's Letter on the Divorce. — He defends Persecution of Here-
tics.— Ambassador to the Emperor. — Unsuccessful Negotiation.
— He lingers in Germany. — Has little Intercourse with the Lu-
therans.— Falls in love with Osiander's Niece, and contracts a
second Marriage. — Appointed by the King Archbishop of Can-
terbury.— Sincere in his Eeluctance to accept the Office. — Is
consecrated. — His Enthronization. — Convocation. — The King
secretly married to Ann Boleyn. — Cranmer pronounces the Nul-
lity of the King's Marriage with Queen Katherine. — Cranmer's
Description of Queen Ann's Coronation. — Indignation of the
Public against the King and the Archbishop. — Harsh Measures
of Cranmer. — He silences the Pulpits. — Recurrence to the His-
tory of the Nun of Kent. — Cranmer protected by Military Force
at his Visitation. — His provincial Visitation. — Opposed by the
Bishops of Winchester and London. — Legislative Enactments. —
Election of Bishops. — Archbishop invested with power to grant
Dispensations hitherto granted by the Pope. — Suffragan Bishops.
— Protestant Persecutors. — Legal Murder of More and Fisher. —
Archbishop's Retirement. — Trial of Ann Boleyn. — Unjustifiable
Conduct of Cranmer. ..... Page 422

LIVES

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY.

BOOK IV

THE REFORMATION

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTORY.

The one Duty of an Incorporated Society. — The Church a Society incor-
porated by Christ our Lord. — Its special Duty to propagate the Gospel. —
Study of Theology necessary to an Ecclesiastical Historian. — No exertion
of Intellect can discover that there is a future State of Existence. — This
can only be known by a Revelation from God. — Revealed Religion is a
transruissive Religion. — Compulsion allowable to induce Men to accept
Revealed Truth. — Men compelled by Education, and by the Institutions
of their Country. — Intolerance of Man. — Intolerance of Literary and
Scientific Men. — Intolerance of Politicians. — Moral Persecutions in the
Religious World. — Evils of anonymous Journalism. — Persecution for-
bidden in Scripture. — All the Reformers intolerant. — Struggle of the
Church of England from the Conquest against Popery. — Reformers. —
TViclif. — Reformers at Pisa, Constance, and Basle. — Luther. — Modern
Romanism established as a Sect at the Council of Trent. — English Refor-
mation.— All the Reformers repudiated Chillingworth's Dogma. — The
Bible only the Religion of Protestants. — Confessions of Faith. — English
Refonnation the Re-establishment of Primitive Christianity. — Romish
Reformation at Trent established Medievalism. — Continuity and Per-
petuity of the Church of England.— The old Catholic Church reformed. —
No new Sect. — Malignant or party Use of the title Catholic. — Royal

VOL. VI. B

2 LIVES OF THE

Supremacy. — The Sovereign not the Head of the Church. — Suppression
of Monasteries. — Character of Crumwell. — Object of Introductory
Chapters. — From the Reformation Primates gradually retired from
Politics. — The Reformation Period, from time of King Henry VIII.
and Archbishop Warham to that of Charles II. and Archbishop Juxon. —
Our present Position dependent upon the Reformation of 1662. — Party
Spirit displayed in Writers of the History of the Reformation. — Character
of the Historians. — Poxe not trustworthy. — This Work composed from
Public Documents. — No great or master Mind among our Reformers. —
Advantage of this. — English Reformation a providential Blessing.

To the constitution and characteristic peculiarities of
incorporated societies the attention of the reader has
IntoryUC been directed in the introductory chapter of the pre-
ceding book. A body corporate is a legal fiction,
invested with a living power ; and possesses an immor-
tality which does not pertain to any of its component
parts. I revert to the subject now to remark, that
when a society is incorporated, the design is not the
personal aggrandizement of its members ; but the fur-
therance of some definite and extrinsic object. In
consequence of their association, honours may accrue
to the members ; but this is an accident of the insti-
tution, and not the purport of its organization. The
officers of a regiment are honoured by the commission
they hold, and through the regiment they may rise
to distinction ; nevertheless, the regiment was raised
not to stimulate or reward personal merit, but,
through the valour of its members, to fight the battles
of the country. In a municipal corporation, the
magistrates are dignified ; but the royal charter
embodied them, not for their own sakes ; but that,
by their combined energy and wisdom, justice may
be administered and the public peace maintained.

The reader will bear this in mind while we call to
his recollection the fact, that in Holy Scripture the
Church Universal is presented to our contemplation
as an incorporated society : " We being many," says
St. Paul, " are one bodv in Christ ; " " We are all

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY.

baptized into one body ; " " Now ye are the body of CHAP.

Christ, and members in particular." ~"

v f\\ \7iTiAlT7 inr»nr-

tory.

The Universal Church is a society divinely incor- Introd

porated under its Divine Head ; it is governed by
a succession of officers divinely appointed : we are
admitted into it by the Sacrament of Baptism.

Having realized this idea, we pass on to the next.
The Church has been incorporated for some special
purpose. Over and above the duties devolving upon
individuals there is one common object, to promote
which is the object of its incorporation.

The Church was not incorporated to inculcate a code
of morals. This it has done, but it has done it inci-
dentally. It is not the will of God to do by miracle,
what can be accomplished by the natural powers of
the human mind, duly cultivated, taught by experi-
ence, and properly exercised. The ethical writings of
the heathen philosophers still exist to bear testimony
to what can be accomplished by the unassisted human
intellect ; and to show that a miracle was not required
for the development of a system of ethics. The Lord
did not descend from heaven to become a moralist and
lawgiver. He is such ; but the inculcation of morality
is an accident of Christianity, and not of its essence.

The Church was not incorporated as a school of
philosophy. The members of an incorporated society
cannot do their duty in or to the society, unless they
adhere to its rules ; they are to labour for a special
object, bat only through legitimate means. There
must, therefore, be dogmatic teaching in the Church.
The members of the Church are to impart to one
another what the Head of the Church has enjoined,
and to instruct them in all that the Lord has com-
manded. But this again is only an incidental, though
an important, duty.

* Rom. xii. 5 ; 1 Cor. xii. 12, 13; Ephes. iw 4»
B 2

4 LIVES OF THE

CHAP. The special duty of the Church, the object for the
furtherance of which it was organized, the one end

O *

Intorduc~ ^or wnicn it was incorporated, its peculiar function as
a body corporate, — is declared by its Divine Founder:
" Go ye and disciple all nations ; " " Go ye into all
the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature/'

Each individual is to seek his own salvation. In
the battle-field, every soldier is instinctively impelled,
to adopt measures for the protection of his person
and the preservation of his life. Every individual is
to acquire a knowledge of the Divine law, as he has
the opportunity. In a municipal corporation, each
magistrate must study the laws of the land. But, in
addition to these, the personal duties of each individual
member, there is the one duty of the incorporated
society, the object for which it was organized, char-
tered, commanded into existence. This duty, in the
case of the Church, is to disciple nations ; to preach
the Gospel, as God provides the opportunity, to every
creature, baptizing them in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. It is to
continue for ever, by the accretion of new members,
that Divine corporation to which this duty has been
assigned.

Words, however, are so often used to which no
meaning, or an inadequate meaning, or a wTrong
meaning, is attached ; that, when we have ascertained
what was the special object which our Lord had in
view when Christians were incorporated, a further
question arises, and we are obliged to ask, What is
meant by the Gospel 1

In giving an answer to this question, we enter into
the province of theology, and for so doing no apology
is necessary. To divorce theology from ecclesiastical
history is impossible, if by history we mean anything
more than annals or a dry statement of facts, — a

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 5

corpse without a soul. It is only in favour of theology CHAP.
that the Church acts, and to a person ignorant of the __J_
Christian religion the conduct of Christians must lnj™!juc
appear frequently offensive, and always unaccountable.

To meet the question before us, we must repeat
what has been advanced before : that God only reveals
what man, without revelation, is unable to discover ; or
what is necessary to preserve its tradition.

No exertion of intellectual power could discover the
fact that there is a future state of existence — a world
beyond the grave. Reason, by its intuitions, may
regard the thing as probable ; the understanding, by
its logic, may prove that it is not impossible ; upon
the possibility and the probability the imagination
may love to dwell. But the fact that there is a
heaven and that there is a hell ; this, if it be a fact,
must be revealed — made known to us by miracle.

Again, no ratiocinative skill, no logical process, can
discover what we are to do if, when we have received
a revelation upon the subject, we desire to make that
future state an eternity of happiness.

It has been made known to us, that a future world
exists, in which an order of things is constituted
analogous to that with which we are familiar; — that
which we denote when we speak of the laws of nature.
Our life is not renewed, but continued. Death can
make no alteration in our character ; as the child is
said to be father to the man, so man in time is father
to man in eternity. There is a change in our circum-
stances, but, as these circumstances are subject to the
same law of nature, there is a sequence of cause and
effect ; hence what we are doing in this world may be
the cause of what will be experienced in the next.

There are circumstances in this world which may
admit of explanation by a reference to the laws of
nature, but present themselves as mysteries to the

6 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, mind of the moralist. Suffering and misery are dis-
connected from vice ; and virtue frequently becomes its
introduc- own reward, arid nothing more. A man by accident

tory.

falls into a pit ; there is no blame to be attached to
him, but the result in death is the same, whether it
be an accident or a suicide. A pious son is struggling
with poverty, not from any fault of his own, but
because an improvident father hazarded his all at a
gaming table. Another person is ruined because, in
his charity, he has become surety for a friend, whom
he trusted and by whom he has been deceived. We
have had repeated instances of great families reduced
to distress through the attainder of an ancestor, the
innocent victim of party malice or of royal injustice.

For these things we cannot account ; we must take
them as they are, and act accordingly. It is in
accordance with this order of things, that the human
race, through no fault of its members now existing,
has, in its corporate capacity, become a disobedient
race. A disobedient race cannot answer the end and
object for the furtherance of which it was originally
created, and is therefore in a state of condemnation.
Each man who is born into this world is, under present
circumstances, incapable of obeying God. Until it is
revealed to him, he knows not what God requires of
him ; he is even ignorant of his position as a sinful
creature. It is revealed to us, that the inevitable
consequence of any deviation from the Divine will,
whether intentional or not, is misery ; misery is the
effect of which a deviation from God's will is the
cause. Although gleams of happiness are vouchsafed
to him from time to time, yet man goes on adding sin
to sin, and, in consequence, incurring a never-ceasing
increase of misery. When he has reached a certain
height, his descent is rapid ; through the weakness of
old age he sinks into a second childhood, and, passing

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY.

a sinner into the next world, he is eternally miserable, CHAP.
because he is eternally sinning. Eeason can never _J^_

discover anv change in the laws of nature, when the Iutroduc-

* tory.

boundaries of this world shall have been passed ; and
certainly death is not a Saviour to atone, or a Paraclete

to regenerate.

Under this state of things, God has been pleased to
make known to us that a miracle of mercy has been
performed ; another force has been brought to bear
upon the forces in existence, and a Saviour has been
provided to restore the human race as such, and those
among its individual members who will conform to
the conditions imposed, to that high position in which
man was seen, when, by the created intelligences who
surround the throne of glory, the voice of God was
heard declaring that whatever He had made was very
good. Good news, glad tidings are these ; that for
fallen man, in his corporate capacity, an Almighty
Saviour has been provided, and, for the regeneration
of each penitent individual, the Divine Comforter.
This is the Gospel which the Church is to preach, and
such is the Divine Saviour under whose dominion it
is to endeavour to reduce every creature. The Church
cannot secure the salvation of all who are enrolled
among its members ; in an earthly kingdom a subject
of the king may be condemned to death for robbery,
murder, or treason ; but the Church can bring to all
men the privileges of the Gospel, and it must labour
incessantly, to make all the kingdoms of the earth the
kingdoms of the Lord.

It is useless to conceal the fact, so unwelcome to a
large portion of the governing classes, that while the
Church exists, it must exist as a Church militant. The
spirit of syncretism, at this time prevalent in England,
made its appearance, only to fail, in the Roman Empire.
And such must ever be the case. It is not an opinion

8 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, or a wish that is now stated ; it is simply an historical
_^_, fact. At certain times and in some localities the Church
Intordu°" Inay ^6 ^different an(i corrupt, or the world may seem
to triumph over it ; but the mandate of its Founder
is unalterable. According to His command, whether it
shall bring peace upon earth or a sword, the Church will
never rest until it has subdued to Christ " flesh and
blood, principalities and powers, the rulers of the dark-
ness of this world, spiritual wickedness in high places."
It will, by recourse to all lawful means and measures,
compel men to become, at least nominally, Christian.

To the word compulsion, as applied to religion,
many will demur, who are nevertheless among the
first to compel. We have recourse to compulsion,
whenever we resort to any measure, except that of
argument, to induce men to profess and call them-
selves Christians. The Christian father, who believes
that the whole world is under sentence of condem-
nation, brings his unconscious infant to baptism, that
he may place him in a state of salvation. He invests
him with privileges ; but the child, without being con-
sulted, is involved also in responsibilities. It is a sweet
compulsion, nevertheless compulsion it is, when the
young mother teaches her babe to lisp the Saviour's
name ; and to call God his Father. When the child
passes from the nursery to the school-room, he finds
himself surrounded by preceptors and books, the
avowed purpose of whom and of which is, to pre-
judice his mind in favour of Christianity ; and to
train him in the way that a Christian, though scorned
by the world as narrow-minded, thinks that he ought
to go. The Christian parent, whether he reasons on the
subject or not, is aware that a prejudice by no means
implies a wrong opinion : it is simply an opinion which,
without examination, we have received from others.
Persuaded that his own convictions on the subject of

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY.

religion are right, — prepared perhaps, il need should be, CHAP.
to die for them, — the Christian parent is anxious to — _
transmit the truth he has received to his posterity. Intto™"

The present controversy on the subject of education
is based on the right claimed by various parties to
compel the young to adopt or to eschew certain
opinions and principles, by prejudicing their minds
in favour of them, or against them. The divisions
of Christendom prove to be the strength of infidelity.
The infidel, however, in seeking to eliminate Christianity
from our schools, is acting on the same principle. He
seeks to compel the rising generation to become in-
fidel, by exciting a prejudice in its mind against all
dogmatic teaching. He would cajole the unstable,
without offending established prejudices ; he would
retain the name of Christian, but speak of Christ, not
as a Saviour, but as a fallible moralist ; he repudiates
the epithet of godless, but the God in whose favour
he would prejudice the minds of his children, whether
spoken of as Jehovah, Jove, or Lord, is, in his esti-
mation, not a Person.

We summon him, therefore, into the witness-box,
to bear testimony to the fact, that man cannot arrive
at those practical conclusions which are to shape his
course of life through any processes of the under-
standing, independent of external circumstances. It
is to a few subjects only that the deepest thinker can
apply the whole force of his intellect, and adjust
the intuitions of reason to the deductions of the
understanding. Independently of education, the logical
power exists pretty nearly the same in all sound
minds. It is in information rather than in logical
capacity, that the learned differ from the unlearned.
The counsel learned in the law, when addressing a
jury of illiterate persons, makes them acquainted with
certain points of law and fact of which they had

10 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, been previously ignorant,, in full confidence that, when
— -v~ they have been rightly informed, there is in them
Intt1o°iduc" " sufficient logical power to enable them to arrive at a
unanimous conclusion. If> indeed, we depended upon
the understanding only, we should not behold those
wonderful differences, not only in the character of
individuals, but in the whole tone of mind and cast
of thought, by which entire nations and whole races
are distinguished from each other. Diversities of
character absolutely antagonistic are to be found
between the English and the French, the German and
the Italian ; and, more marked still, between ourselves
and our brethren in the United States of America.
"We may ask why is one whole nation, with a few
exceptions, Protestant ; and, with similar exceptions,
another race of human beings Papistical ; or, forming
the most populous and ancient of all branches of the
Christian family, members of the Greek Church ?

The truth is, we become what we are by the training
which in early life our affections have received, and by
the bias given to the grateful mind through the tradi-
tions of our elders ; by the example of our associates ; by
the customs to which we have been habituated; by the
manners we have formed ; by the silent impression of
national institutions ; by the prevalent tone of society ;
by the laws to which we have been taught to submit :
by all these and similar circumstances, which seem to
endow us with new and peculiar instincts before our
reasoning powers are developed, or the understanding
has been taught to exert itself. When reason dawns,
the mind has already accepted certain opinions trans-
mitted to us as true, and these are so woven into our
whole system of thought that they are regarded as
intuitions. The business of the educated understanding
may be to go in quest of new truths, but these truths
when discovered have to be harmonized with truths

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY.

already received ; it may have to winnow out the errors CHAP.
attendant more or less upon all transmitted informa- — —
tion, to correct or to corroborate ; but though the ntoo-_
inherited doctrine be amended or enlarged, it has been
the basis of our reasoning and discoveries. A heart
has been given us as well as a head, to enable us to
steer with safety through the shoals and quicksands of
this troublous world ; and by self-control we are to
temper excesses on either side.

We find the book of God's word in perfect harmony
with the book of God's works. It has been through
tradition that God has made known His will to the
several generations of mankind ; His religion is to
be transmitted from father to son. When it pleased
God to make that revelation of a future state to
which we have adverted, this is the only conceivable
way through which the fact n-v« uled could be brought
to bear upon the mass of mankind.

If God had thought fit to reveal this great fact to
each man as he comes into the world — the fact of his
immortality and the preparation required to make it a
state of happiness — the whole course of nature would
have been changed. A creature different from what he
now is, man would have become, if the probationary
circumstances under which he is placed were different.
An entirely new creature would have been called into
existence. Man remaining as he is, we can only con-
ceive that plan to have been feasible, which by Divine -
wisdom has been adopted.

When the revelation made to Adam had become
virtually obliterated from the mind and memory of
man, it was renewed by Divine mercy to Abraham ;
and we are told why Abraham was selected. In the
language of Scripture it is said, " I know him that he
will command his children and his household after
him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord." A

12 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, miracle was in one instance wrought, but God would

; not interfere further with the ordinary course of nature

introduc- ^nan the circumstances of the case actually required.

When Abraham's family expanded into a nation,
there was again a miracle, or a series of miracles
wrought, in order that, through the political system
imposed upon a stiff-necked people, the grand fact
of revelation, as received in the patriarchal Church,
might be engraven on the public mind : "I know that
my Kedeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the
latter day upon the earth."

In the Christian Church the continuance of the
same system of transmissive religion was implied,
when Timothy was pronounced to be blessed by St.
Paul because his religion was an inheritance. Having
profited by the instructions of his mother and his
grandmother, who taught him to expect the Messiah,
he stood on vantage-ground when St. Paul offered
proof to show, that the Lord Jesus is He. The good
Bereans inherited the Scriptures ; and when to the
knowledge which had been transmitted to them the
Apostles would make an addition, they then, without
ignoring the past, but resting upon it as their founda-
tion, searched the Scriptures to see " whether those
things were so."

We are taught the duty of compelling men, in these
and similar ways, " to come in," by a greater than St.
Paul. To remind us of this duty, and to enforce its
observance, our Lord Himself delivered more than one
of His parables.

Our Divine Master, having made all things ready
for the salvation and sanctification of human souls,
opens His house — the Church Universal — and sends
out an invitation to all men to partake of the blessings
He has prepared for them. Having effected our salva-
tion by a miracle, He leaves the Church to expand itself

AKCHBISHOPS OF CASTEEBrEY. 13

in accordance with the ordinary laws of nature. He
sends forth His messengers, and continues to send
them forth, to invite men into the visible Church.
> employ the arts of persuasion when
addressing the educated, and to have recourse to
argument. We are told in the parable the various
:hat are made by the busy men of the world ;
and if on them we depended exclusively for the propa-
gation of the Gospel, we should be still in the darknean
of heathenism. The messengers of the Lord are then

into the streets and lanes of the city, and they
are commanded to bring in the poor and the maimed,
and the halt and the blind. The express injunction of
the Master is, " Compel them to come in, that My
house may be folL"

When we make a spiritual application of these para-
bles, we must admit, that by the poor and maimed,
and the halt and the blind, can be meant, and meant
only, the ignorant, the on instructed, the great mass
of mankind ; the poor in circumstances, in intellect,
in information.

The peculiarity of Christianity is, indeed, that the
Gospel is preached to the poor. The heathen philo-
sopher contemned the poor, because to the poor, the
uneducated, he could not render his speculations

ligible ; but by an appeal to their gratitude and

ieir in* by educating, and training, and

prejudicing them, they. may be made members of the

le Church.

That \ve cannot, by these means alone, secure their
future salvation, our Lord warns us, by mentioning the

re punishment to which the sinner was subjected,
who, though admitted to the house, had not on, when

Lord appeared, the wedding-garment. He in-

:hat in the day of judgment, although a

man has entered into the Church, he will only suffer

14 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, the severer punishment, if, having had advantages
_J^ placed within his reach, he in wilfulness or in careless-
introduc- ness neglects to avail himself of the same. But be-
cause we cannot array a man in a wedding-garment,
which must be his own act and deed, it does not
follow that we are not to bring him to the Lord's
house, where he may obtain it if he will. The com-
munion of saints is one thing, the visible Church is
another. The visible Church man can extend ; the
sanctification of souls pertains to another agency.
We cannot make a man a loyal subject, but we may
enlarge our Master's kingdom.

The Christian believes that the Messiah has come ;
and he would prepare his own soul, and the souls of
all over whom his influence may extend, to share,
by faith in Him, the blessings which He came to
procure for all. The Christian also believes, that the
Messiah, having a special work to perform in the
final subjugation of the rebels against the Divine
government — fallen angels, as well as fallen man — is
again to appear upon earth ; and the Church, in zeal
for His glory, and in love to our fellow- creatures, is
incorporated to prepare the way for His reception.

In bringing men to Christ, the question is not how
were they brought ; but, What is their present position \
Have they accepted Christ as their Saviour ? Are they
willing to learn what His commandments are, and,
being enlightened, will they seek to obey ? One may
be brought by conviction through argument ; another
through affection ; the majority from the instruction of
a Lois or Eunice. We do not despise even the inferior
motives. A man may commence with the inferior
motive, as did the Apostles, when they regarded our
Lord as having come to establish a temporal kingdom;
and, as in their case, from a worldly he may rise to
that high principle which is consecrated by the blood

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 15

of martyrs. There are some who come to church to CHAP.
enjoy the music there, but who remain to pray. ..!_

Into this theological statement we have been induced In^u
to enter, that, before reverting to the corruptions of
the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries which rendered
a Reformation necessary, we may see and acknowledge
our obligations to the pre-Reformation Church.

It was the duty of those missionaries who, under
God, were the founders of the Church of England, to
preach the Gospel to the poor ; to tell them of a

viour almighty to save, and to induce them to
receive the Lord Jesus as such. They continued to be
the only friends of the poor, at a time when any one
beneath the dignity of a knight was treated by the
supercilious noble as less worthy of his regard than
his war-horse, his hawk, or his hound. They compelled
the poor to listen, by advocating their cause, and by
an appeal to their gratitude. This, however, was not
sufficient. They sought to indoctrinate the young,
and to enlighten the ignorant, by surrounding them
with a Christian atmosphere, and by making the
Church a national institution.

The tendency of mankind is to look upwards, and we
become, unconsciously, the imitators of those we admire
and respect. In every kingdom, therefore, of the so-
called Heptarchy, the founders of our Church addressed
themselves, in the first instance, to the king and his
council. If these were won, they knew that the
people would follow. When the king, the council,
and the people agreed, the name of the Church was
inscribed on every institution of the land, and even
on the banners of the battle-field. The nation became
a Christian nation, because its laws were based on
Christianity.

It may safely be affirmed, that at no period sub-
sequent to the Reformation could the Church of

16 LIVES OF THE

CHAP. England have received its present organization. The
whole tendency of the religious mind, since the close
introduc- Of the sixteenth century, has been to individualize
Christianity. Religion is treated as entirely subjective,
and so has become more and more selfish. The simple
question has been, — How does Christianity bear upon
my salvation \ What is the state of my own soul ?
Not, What is my duty as a sworn soldier and servant
of the Great Captain of our salvation ? The object
for which the Church was incorporated, though par-
tially sustained by missionary exertions, is almost
forgotten.

It was by the Church before the Reformation that
our dioceses were formed, very nearly as they now are ;
and, at the same time, the parochial system was
established ; a minister of the Gospel is planted in
each rural district, which otherwise the glad sounds
of salvation would only occasionally and fitfully have
reached. To the exertions of our ancestors, in ages
far remote, we owe the endowments of our Church ;
endowments for which we are indebted to private
benevolence, and not to the State ; except so far as the
State has extended to them the same protection, which
it is required to extend to other owners of property.
If St. Paul's was rebuilt, and other Cathedrals have
been restored, still the foundations were laid before the
Reformation, and it is to pre-Reformation piety that
we are entirely indebted for what still remains of
these establishments. Although in our universities
some of our colleges have been founded subsequently
to the reign of Henry VIII, yet the universities them-
selves are mediaeval institutions. Our Book of Com-
mon Prayer was not the composition of the illustrious
men by whom the Reformation of our Church was
conducted ; but it existed in the " Use of Sarum,"
which was itself an anticipation of the Prayer-book ;

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 17

being an attempt to reduce the various rituals of the CHAP.
Church of England to one book.

So far we have spoken of compulsion effected by-
recourse to legitimate measures : — measures which,
injurious to no one, are the means of alluring the
young, the weak, and the ignorant into the narrow
path that leadeth to eternal life. Among true
Christians, then, if a question arises on this subject
it cannot have reference to compulsion, considered
abstractedly ; it refers to the employment of legitimate
or illegitimate means, to effect the end they have in
view. There can be no doubt, that the abuse of this
principle has led to persecution ; but a principle is not
to be condemned because in its abuse it may terminate
in criminal action. The truth is, that, when it does so,
it becomes a new principle with an old name. Accus-
tomed, in the nineteenth century, to test our opinions
by a reference to Scripture, we at once condemn as
irreligious, while we denounce as horrible, the acts of
intolerance and persecution of which, not only in the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, but in almost
every age before and since, we read the history. The
ware of Charlemagne, the Crusades, the fires of
Smithfield, the severities of Crumwell and of Bouner,
the battles of the Puritans, the treatment of the
Covenanters, to say nothing of the Inquisition, and
the miserable war, in which that institution found
its birth or at all events its first sphere of action,
are denounced with one universal cry of reprobation ;
and yet it will be observed there is no religious
party, sect, school, or faction, from which the ac-
cursed spot can be washed out. Xo mistake can
be greater, than that which would represent the Ee-
fonnation as a struggle for freedom ; this mistake,
however, has rendered the name of Protestant dear to
the politician who, regardless of religion, has inscribed

VOL. vi. c

18 LIVES OF THE

CHAP. " civil and religious liberty " on the banner of his

_!_ Part7-

introduc- The notion of religious liberty, or even of tolera-
tion, never entered into the mind of any Eeformer
of the sixteenth century. With Lutheran, Zuinglian,
Romanist, Anglican, the simple question was, What is
the truth 1 Each party claimed to be in possession
of the truth ; each struggled for the mastery, in order
that it might compel its opponents to accept the
truth to which, it was imagined, God gave the Divine
sanction when, through the operation of Divine Pro-
vidence, He gave to the one party the success which
He denied to the other. By degrees men learned,
that visible and immediate success in this world was
not a criterion of the truth ; and for the toleration we
enjoy we are indebted rather to the mutual interests
than to the generosity of mankind. In the uncertainty
of human events, the party in the ascendant to-day
may be in a miserable minority to-morrow ; and all
parties have come to a tacit understanding, that the
security from persecution, to be enjoyed by each, can
only be secured by extending an exemption from
physical persecution to all. This is the result of that
which, abstractly considered, is a calamity — the dis-
union of Christendom and the formation of those
sects, which came into existence during, or after, the
Reformation of the sixteenth century. Disunion is a
great calamity ; for reunion the heart of man begins
to yearn. But the Christian always sees the hand
of Providence behind the darkness and the cloud,
unceasingly employed in educing good out of evil.
It would, humanly speaking, have been impossible for
the corruptions of the Church to have been removed,
and for a spirit of toleration to have been gradually
created, if men had not been made to feel, that their
own security depends upon the granting to others.,

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 1 !>

of that toleration of which they may themselves soon CHAP.
stand in need. — ' —

Hence we hear no more of the rack or the stake.
But the spirit of persecution is as rife and as general
in the nineteenth century as it was in the sixteenth.
"\Yhen. godless mobs are inebriated by concealed
fanatics to attack unpopular churches; when parlia-
mentary senility invokes authority to treat aesthetic ism
as a crime ; we niv inclined to think, that an absence
of persecution is to be attributed to want of power
rather than to want of will. TTheii we observe the
rancour with which, with a frw honourable exceptions.
that portion of the public press which assumes to
itself the character of religious, is accustomed to vilify
the great and the good, whose doctrinal principles or
ecclesiastical taste are impugned : we feel, that we are
indebted for our safety, not to religious charity, but t«>
a well-ordered police. The truculent letters by which
all are assailed, almost daily, who occupy a prominent
position in Church or State, are sufficient to prove that,
if Bonner's hand be paralysed, Banner's heart still
beats in many a br«-

It is sometimes assumed, that this bitterness of spirit
is peculiar to religious controversy : but we must not
forget, that the ».<//////< </• ologicum, though more unrea-
sonable, is quite as bitter as tli-- <"//"/// thc<>ln<ji,-
"We are painfully reminded of the controvert > int<»
which men of science and literature, with less excuse,
have been precipitated. Uiiregenerate man is by
nature intolerant, and of those who imagine them-
selves tolerant there are many who are merely in-
different. "\Vhen the intellect alone is in activity,
and the passions are unconcerned, to display a spirit
of toleration towards those who differ from us in
opinion may be comparatively easy. Very different
is it found to be, when the affections are enlisted in

c 2

20 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, the cause ; still more so, when emotions of vanity and
_Jx> self-love are excited. That the passions are easily
introduc- rouse(J and with difficulty appeased, in theological
discussions, it will be our duty, in the present book,
to state and lament ; but we must remind the reader,
that they have been, and still are, exhibited, with
equal intensity, in every pursuit to which thoughtful
men have given up their hearts. The hard language
that passed between Newton and Flamstead reflects
no honour on their noble science or on their personal
self-control. After Newton's death, the fluxional con-
troversy is a blot upon the page of science. Hot
as fire were the controversies on phlogiston and
hydrogen. Recently the question whether a gorilla's
hippocampus minor did or did not diminish the
similarity of his brain to that of man, provoked a
fierce personal altercation between two eminent natu-
ralists ; because each staked, to a certain extent, his
own scientific reputation on the result.

If we proceed from science to literature, especially
at the revival of learning, the reader is grieved or
amused, when he finds a man like Scaliger heaping on
the gentle and refined Erasmus, epithets of contumely,
which he certainly did not find in his favourite classic ;
and which suggests the idea that he must have occa-
sionally visited the fishmarket. Erasmus is described
as a drunkard, a hangman, a parricide, a monster, a
Porphyry, a Luther, and an infidel, — and all because,
in his " Ciceronianus," he accused the Ciceronians of
admiring Cicero too much. It is equally painful, at a
later period, to find Salmasius, a man of learning and
a courtier, cruelly describing Milton, because he was a
republican, as

" Monstrum horrendum informe ingens cui lumen ademptum ; "
and we are sorry to be informed, that our sublime

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 21

poet, instead of treating the rudeness with contempt, CHAP
in his just indignation at the personalities of his _^
opponent, employed language equally pungent. introduc-

In the present age, literary men are aware, that, by
their criminations and recriminations, they amuse,
without exciting an unsympathising public by exposing
themselves to ridicule ; and our most painful instances
of intolerance are to be sought for in the political world.*

It is because the intensity of feeling, brought to bear
upon religion in the sixteenth century, is directed,

* By the system of anonymous journalism controversialists have
discovered the means of giving a keener edge to the dagger^they
would aim at a rival's heart By assuming the first person plural
instead of the first person singular, the modern Scaliger can make
it appear, that his opponent is a hangman, a parricide, and a
monster, not merely in his own opinion, but in the opinion of
the whole world, represented by the mysteri< >us WE. Much may
be said in favour of the anonymous in Political journalism. It
may not always be expedient to produce the authority on which a
statement is made. As in tournaments of old, some unknown
knight would come unexpectedly to the rescue ; so in the political
contest, in aid of his party, a great man may come, from the council-
board or the senate, down to the printing office, whose influence in
his proper sphere would be diminished if he assumed the position
also of a political writer. But in favour of anonymous end
scarcely a word can be said, "When the question relates to the
merits or the demerits of a literary or scientific publication, the
public ought to be informed, whether the critic, who represents
the plurality of voices by whom judgment is pronounced, is a man
competent to sit in judgment upon the author. "We know before-
hand, that from political or religious partisanship an author will
be undeservedly praised in one place, and as undeservedly censun •<]
in another. The opportunity offered for the indulgence of private
malignity and revenge is obvious. The system is nearly exploded
in France, and we are following the example, though with our usual
caution, in England. The reviews of distinguished authors are
now republished as essays ; but still the vituperative and anony-
mous system is carried so far, that some distinguished men may
be named, who, while lending a large amount of literary assistance
to others, have refused to come forward as authors themselves.

2-2 LIVES OF THE

CHAT, in the present age, to the subject of politics, that

'_ the course of conduct which, when apparent in the

i^ti-ndu theologian, is held up to reprobation, is, inconsis-
tently, vindicated whenever it may chance to be
applied to the assertion or maintenance of political
principles. In favour of persecuting political offenders,
or men regarded as such, modern historians have much
to advance. In a political age, their defence of perse-
cution for the furtherance of political ends, is received
with very general applause. We might quote passages
from more than one of the most popular historians of
modern times, in which the execution of such men as the
Earl%of Straff ord and of King Charles I. is treated with
a levity sufficient to show, that their tolerance in what
relates to religion is the tolerance, not of principle
but of indifference. Crudelitatis odio in crudelitatem
ruitis. The death of a king is treated as a jest,
and that of a hostile statesman with exultation.
Upon this subject I am not at present concerned
to give an opinion ; we only contend, that we must
deal justly to all men ; and what is said in justifi-
cation of a political persecution must be, in all fairness,
adduced in palliation of the evil deeds of religious
enthusiasts.

By the writers to whom I refer it is asserted — and
to the assertion the public in general assents — that
as you execute a robber and condemn a murderer
to death, so to death you may condemn the king or
the statesman, who robs the citizen or subject of his
property, his just rights, or his liberty. If we admit
the lawfulness of capital punishment in any case, w^e
cannot deny, that to a traitor's death a king, found
guilty of treason against the country over which he
is appointed to preside, may be justly doomed. But
if we accept this principle at all, we cannot censure
its application in the case of heresy. Innocent III.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. -3

adverted to the executions which abounded in his CHAI-.
time, for offences against the laws enacted for the ^_J^,
protection of life and property : and then he con- In^u
tinues : — " He that taketh away the faith of a man
stealeth his life, for the just shall live by faith.'5 If
you condemn a man to death because he has robbed
somebody of his life in this world : a fortiori, the
pontiff argues, you may inflict capital punishment on
the man who robs another of his spiritual and eternal
life. The same line is taken by Thomas Aquinas.
That great man argues, that, if false coiners be
punished with death, much more is such a doom

ved by heretics, forasmuch as a corruption of
faith whereby the soul has its life is far worse than
a falsification of money. In like manner, another
Dominican, Humbert de Romanis, inculcate.- tin-
duty of punishing heretic-, and declares, that if even
the pope were a heretic — a supposition which our
Church historian observes was not in that a^v sup-

, To be impossible- -he should be subjected to
punishment.*

It was not, indeed, for holding erroneous opini"
as is sometimes supposed, that men wt-re punished,
but for propagating tlio>.- opinions. Until the pas-
sions were roused in the sixteenth century, and BO
long as the discussions were confined to the school

* Sec Robertson, Hist, of Christian Church, iii. 561. Upon this
subject we shall never probably be consistent until capital punish-
ment for any offence is abolished. How far it may be considered
possible, with a due regard to life and property, to abolish capital
punishments. I am not concerned to say. But if you slay the man
who attacks your property or life, you are undoubtedly open to
the retort, that you only condemn those who would inflict a similar
punishment on the propagators of heresy, because you value life and
property, but do not value the human soul. Because we value the
human soul, instead of condemning the criminal, under any cir-
cumstances, to death, ought we not to give him time for repent ;<:

24 LIVES OP THE

CHAP, learning, considerable latitude was allowed on all that

^_J^ pertained to theological opinion. Just before the com-

introduc- mencement of the Eeformation, we have seen that

tory. '

complaint was made, that the bishops of the Church
of England were lukewarm in the suppression of
heresy. When the passions were once excited, and
the aid of political revolutionists was invoked by
religious reformers, then began the tale of horror
which we shall have to recount.

Although we contend, that a spirit of intolerance
is natural to man in his unrenewed nature, we must
at the same time affirm, that a resort to acts of perse-
cution, under any plea whatever, is more criminal in
a Christian than it is in any other person or party.
When the Christian was directed to have recourse to
all legitimate means for propagating the Gospel, he
was expressly warned, that his weapons were not to
be carnal. This, the first warning against persecution,
was given in Scripture, at the very time that zeal
for the propagation of revealed truth was required.
Men were warned not to rush from one extreme to
another. An action which in its proper place is a
virtue may, when urged to excess, become a vice. It
is good to be " zealously affected in a good cause : "
but zeal without love may be a mere human, and is
sometimes a diabolical, passion.

The reader of these volumes is well aware, that what
is called the Reformation was not, as is commonly
supposed, an improvised revolution for which men had
not been prepared. The history of our Church, from
the time of the Conquest, is the history of a continued
struggle, varying in its intensity in different ages,
against the papacy. It was not a struggle confined
to the laity ; the laity rather came to the aid of the
clergy, who were the first to suffer from the papal
aggression. The struggle would have come to a crisis

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 25

earlier, if it had not been, that it was too generally the CHAP.
interest of the king to side with the pope, and so to _J_
evade the law. The statutes of Provisors and Prse- InJ^°
munire, though, at a subsequent period, turned against
the clergy, were originally enacted for their protection
against the pope. No man in the kingdom was more
devoted to the papal interests than King Henry VIII.
until his passions separated his interests from those of
the pontiff. When he determined upon that separa-
tion, he found everything relating to the independence
of the Church of England, prepared to his hand. The
nation, ripe for no other reforms, was ready to assert
its independence, and to renounce the jurisdiction of
the foreign prince, prelate, state, and potentate who
had been, all along, resisted in his usurpations by the
laws of the land.

We have seen how the powerful intellect of John
Wiclif, when led by his politics to examine the sub-
ject of papal pretensions, went at once to the root of
the evil. He proclaimed, that the whole Church
system required revision and reform ; he pointed out
that we could only discover what the errors were
which the Western Church unconsciously held, by a
reference to some authority admitted by all. That
the Bible was written by inspired men all agreed in
asserting ; the authority of the Bible therefore could
not be denied, nor could it be denied that a doctrine
condemned by the Bible could not be true ; therefore,
that all might have insight into the corrupt state of
the Church, the Bible was translated by Wiclif.

It did not, however, follow that the man, who in-
vented the needle-gun, should himself know how to use
it ; Wiclif might prepare a weapon to attack corruptions
of the Church without employing it properly. He was
himself led into many fallacies from not perceiving, that

26 LIVES OF THE

OHAP. though the Bible is the authority, yet it is an autho-
__^_ rity only when it is rightly interpreted. He pointed
introduc- j^g Weapon against his opponents, and, not being
properly wielded, the weapon sometimes recoiled upon
himself. When the time of his departure came, while
there were many who, piously and in secret, studied
the sacred volume he had placed in their hands, yet
he left behind him, not a religious party, but only a
violent political faction, which in his name propagated
what would now be called the principles of Socialism.
This so alarmed the conservatism of Europe as to delay
an effectual reformation for more than a century.

Dismayed by the spread of Lollardism, the illus-
trious reformers, who, at Pisa, Constance, and Basle,
contended for the liberty of the Church, and as-
serted its superiority over the pope, failed in their
labours by deviating into an opposite extreme. Their
denunciation of the malpractices of ecclesiastics,
particularly of monks, was vehement and loud ;
but they were careful to deny, that any correction
of doctrine was required. They even accepted as
an article of faith what till then had been only a
prevalent opinion in the Church, the " Thomistic
figment " of transubstantiation. They thought to
reform the Church, by taking steps to rectify the
administration of its discipline, to bring the canons
to bear on all alike, and to make both pope and
people amenable to general councils to be periodically
convened.

Such was the state of things, when the voice of
Luther was heard ; and his reformation, with differ-
ences in detail but identical in principle with that of
Zuingle and Calvin, soon extended from the northern
provinces of Germany to the Rhine and the Seine ;
from Wiirtemburg to the Lake of Geneva and the

ton-.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. -~

Alpine Valleys : it approached England, like the Gulf ("HAP.
Stream, influencing our moral atmosphere, touching — ^

T tr ]

but not penetrating our theology.

The principle of Wiclif was accepted and modified.
It was agreed, that what could not be read in the
Bible, or proved thereby, ought not to be enforced as an
article of faith. It was contended, that every doctrine
•ived in the Church, if disputed, was to be brought
to this test. But the fanatical notion propounded by
Chillingworth in the following century, that the Bible,
and the Bible only. — understood by the private judg-
ment of each individual, however idiotic he maybe,—
the religion of Protestants. nev.-r « ntered into the minds
of those great men, Luther and Melanrthon, to wh»
the title of Protestant was first applied ; or of that
it theologian to whom tin- same title, in modern par-
lance, applies. John Calvin. The confessions of faith,
which no man within their sway could reject without
peril of life, survive to bear witness to the principle.
that when they referred to the Bible, they meant
the Bible rightly interpreted. Whether they can be
justified in the position they assumed, that their own
interpretation of the Bible is the only interpretation
admissible, may be doubted; )u»r<' than doubted,
when we find that, on some material points, they dif-
fered from one another. Then- can, however, be no
doubt, that while they agreed with Wiclif in making
the inspired volume tin- test of truth, they sought t<>
ape from the serious errors into which his followers,
if not Wiclif himself, had been hurried. This tlu.-y
endeavoured to do by drawing up those confessions of
faith which contain their view of fundamental truths.

The necessity of a Reformation having been long
acknowledged and declared by the whole Western
Church, the Church of Rome undertook to reform

28 LIVES OF THE

itself and all the Churches which continued to ad-
here to the papal system. To reform the Church
IntoryUC ^e C°uncil °f Trent was convened. The first session
was held on the 13th of December, 1545 ; when there
were present, besides the three papal legates, four
archbishops and twenty-two bishops ; the last session
took place on- the 3rd of December, 1563. It con-
cluded in establishing modern Eomanism in the secta-
rian sense of the word.

That the Council of Trent did not represent the
Catholic Church is an historical fact, which can be
denied by those and only those who make Catholicism
and Romanism convertible terms.* The great Catholic
Churches of the East, or the Greek Church, were not
represented ; and, besides the Church of England,
there were other European Churches which refused
to send delegates to the synod.

Several wise measures were adopted, by which the
foundation was laid for a reformation of ecclesiastical
discipline ; but in regard to doctrine, instead of ac-

* The pope had decreed, that the title to be given to the Council
should run in this form : "The Holy (Ecumenical and General
Council of Trent." To this the Gallican bishops, together -with
many of the Italians and Spaniards, objected ; asserting that the
following \vords should be added, "representing the Universal
Church." To this proposed addition the legates would not give
their consent. It had been the form used at Constance and Basle,
and they feared that the rest of the form of those councils would
follow, " which derives its power immediately from Jesus Christ,
and to which every person of whatever dignity, not excepting the
pope, is bound to yield obedience." The reader will observe, that
the council itself did not claim to be binding upon all Churches,
and he will also perceive how this corroborates the statement fre-
quently made that the Ultramontane notion had no date anterior to
the time of Martin Y. The English Church, therefore, adhering to
the principles of the great councils of the fifteenth century, was, in
its reformation, pursuing a consistent course.

_'-. - -,:-•: ' • • Vi : :Lr ':.::-„ :lt r. .;

?".••::_ z:-~ •:_•.:;: :_ • _'.:~- - .-<•;.- : L.T :; n ::;•.:_; j.:
:• " - ?~: liv-L -HL'I- ;:• ;•:? : •_•-.:! 1:1 '_- • :. : :•
but as the gni-Ie of &e Cfandb • OH tart rftke
it was fu«;h. neither In inffividKafa L:: b Ac Qhmeh —

were many -T. ;.•;.• I in-i pLoiLi riirn. ^h ) iviirec b pome

^. vet t^iev •s~-:r^ '."v-rrr*!. •-•••.! •in1".

i : u_ "-v/. : ~ •- :r. . :-. L iL^:u:,l"-^ v« Lnt<
to compare the exisrii:^ tteokgy ^::h Ac Ikeologj :!
the fathers, or with HoLvS.-riptTire : OH bttUBH ;yt:ir
Synod was rather ta 'j^nimi on-i neAodiar Ac ioe-
trines of Ae Meddle Ages ; and many doctnnes which
kid previously been m-reiy pi--.:^ Ofniooi --ill open la
•1:>< -.>.--. -_. ".' :• . /,: :_~ :::_.. :_.:.: .•-; '.-< :' :'.•::_.*

:~_~ •vu T * -r*

*d,¥
•tJMht vhki lid

byth*.

- :IT :':i--::ri:-s ::'

"V . ., .^ ._. — '. _.. _ . .

:: a:cli : ;: ::' 7 —i;.;?- ":; :li
:_, ..;-:_ ;.: _:•-:.

07 C-LVTZZ377.T. --'

eeptbg Idle Bible, rightly interpreted, as the standard CHAP.

— -
tbe CKurelk Lad devwted firam pmnitnne trafeb; liey

:,;. be j, eaHbaaaoaa levdHlioB feo

-- >. :n :L.ir f-vi:-.. :!-; F-.'zi.i.z.
It was not thor duty to contend for the

:•::_. "-"_: 1. A- ": ^:.J:^ :?• ~ S-.T:.: TVJ:--:. '" - L/V. .mi
tor ill. l-tl:vcrtfii In :Iic 5iiin:.s : bri tkeb tanm
through, the niirticLi!.;^ in?pir.i:i-:'r. of :iir H:>
to j/LI Hwft ntkln ol bid In tbe

-- '- i:>": :-iT" .is :lv ;i_;i..:.i' ::
or the .leiiLiii'.l •:•:' :hr i.ii:Lril aught reqwae

Before the Cbonal of "Rait had entered upon its fos*

-•: -: - :"_ : — ' :: :. -..""•:-.:".:' 'i: :.: ::.::-
vtrr tkm cf the Church of £nglaD«L which was gradnalbr

?: — T ^5 '-.: :•-: ^n_ : :
.rs :._- J._. -i-ir" i^.

iafad ;:
fid On

-: -. •-: :

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 31

Although the divines who commenced the Reforma- CHAK

o _

tion in England were many of them influenced, at first, ;

by a sympathy with Luther ; and afterwards, as regards
some of them, with a greater sympathy with Zwingle ;
yet their work differed materially from what was going
on contemporaneously, or nearly so, among the Pr<
tants on the Continent. Ours was, in the strict sense
of the word, a Reformation, which theirs was not.

The Protestant reformers on the Continent were, by
circumstances over which they had no control, excluded
from the Church. Their proceedings, in eonsequei
resulted in a new creation rather than in a reformation,
the latter word implying a pre-existing entity. While
we admire or criticise their splendid exertions to remedy
an inevitable evil, we lament that they had no Church
to reform, and had therefore to deviate into sects. In-
stead of a succession of ministers from the Apostles,
they had, in each sect, to create the ministers : and if
a succession be observed, the succession dates from the
founder of the sect.

To confound the Church of England with the various
sects thus created at the Reformation, is the policy
of the Romanists in this country ; they presume
upon the acknowledged ignorance of even educated
Englishmen as regards the history of their country, and
especially of their Church. In hostility to the Church,
the infidel makes common cause with the Romanist :

Spanish, sitting in the sixteenth century, not to any society or other
unquestionable sanction, the Church of Eome is indebted for th>-
formal authentication of her peculiar or post-Reformation creed.
Englishmen must have had as great right to deliberate on theo-
logical difficulties, which had hitherto been universally open to
debate ; and they certainly took the safer side, in exacting no man's
belief to such doctrines as were undoubtedly destitute of any cer-
tain -warranty in Scripture, and, as many scholars thought, weir
equally destitute of any safe authority from Catholic tradition."

32 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, and we have to regret that, under the same feeling, the

_J_ same course is pursued by some of the foreign Pro-

Into°ryUC" testants. They fail to perceive that, in upholding the

real position of the Church of England as possessing

peculiar advantages, they strengthen what was called,

in former times, the bulwark of the Reformation.

When we speak of the continuity and perpetuity of
the English Church, we only affirm an historical fact.
But, as historical facts are not unfrequently mis-stated,
or perverted for party purposes, it is advantageous to
the cause of truth to be able to state these facts in the
eloquent words of a writer who has studied history
impartially, and with the mind of a liberal philosopher.
Mr. Gladstone, with Sir William Page Wood, Lord
Lyttelton, Sir Roundell Palmer, and a few eminent
statesmen and lawyers, has divorced religion from
party politics ; and if, as a man, he contends for the
civil rights of the people, he labours with equal zeal,
as a Christian, for the promotion of God's glory.

" I can find," he says, " no trace of that opinion
which is now common in the mouths of unthinking
persons, that the Roman Catholic Church was abolished
in England at the period of the Reformation, and that
a Protestant Church was put in its place ; nor does
there appear to have been so much as a doubt in the
mind of any one of them, whether the Church legally
established in England after the Reformation was the
same institution with the Church legally established in
England before the Reformation, When Whitgift died,
with the memorable words, Pro Ecclesid Dei, on his
lips, the image that hovered before the mind of the
aged and faithful primate was no device of the human
fancy, no creature of civil law ; but a determinate,
transmitted gift of God, the Church of all times and of
all places, to him represented, but not limited, by its

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 33

local organization in England. In short, the spirit of
the English Reformation, with respect to the continuity
of the Church, cannot be better exemplified than by
the words of the conge delire, in which Elizabeth
empowered the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury to
elect Parker to the Metropolitan See. ' Cum Ecclesia
•prcedicta ptrr mortem naturcUem reverenditsimi in
Christ o Patris et Domini Reginaldi Pole. . . . jam
•. <:t jx'tstoris sit solatia destituta ; therefore, it
proceeds, we give you our licence as Founder to proceed
to a new election, and recommend accordingly." *

He points out how different it was with respect to
the Religious Revolution, — for so it was rather than a
Reformation, — in Scotland. He names the year when
in Scotland the Catholic Church was im -established :
tlu- Act was passed in 1.360, in the Scottish Parliament,
which forbade the ministrations of the ancient priest-
hood.

In England lie states, that the course of events was
widely different. " Her Reformation, through the pro-
vidence of God, succeeded in maintaining the unity
and continuity of the Church in her apostolical minis-
try. We have, therefore, still among us the ordained
hereditary witnesses of the truth, conveying it to us
through an unbroken series from our Lord Jesus Christ
and His Apostles. This is but the ordinary voice of
authority ; of authority equally reasonable and equally
true, whether we will hear, or whether we will forbear ;
of authority which does not supersede either the exer-
cise of private judgment, or the sense of the Church at
large, or the supremacy of Scripture ; but assists the
first, locally applies the second, and publicly witnesses
the last/'t

* Gladstone, The State in its Relations with the Church, ii. 127.
t Ibid. ii. 95.
VOL. VI. D

34 LIVES OF THE

In another work Mr. Gladstone asserts tlie fact more
clearly still. " We follow the institution, which, exist-
introduc- jng }n this country for sixteen hundred years or more,
was founded among us by missionaries undoubtedly
apostolical : which has kept unmutilated among us the
Divine Word : which has handed down the performance
of its offices by uninterrupted succession, from man to
man, through a line of bishops : which has given us the
primitive creeds of the Church as limits of its interpre-
tation of Scripture : which has, with whatever doctrinal
abuse, never forsaken those great Scriptural positions
which are brought out in her ancient symbols : and
which, therefore, coming to us in the first instance with
clear and sufficient marks of the Christian Church upon
her, has never at any time so far degenerated as to lose
those marks ; as to abandon those truths and those
sacraments which are appointed for the salvation of the
soul. And we still bear strong, even if unconscious
testimony to her claims in her familiar appellation, the
Church of England." '"

" But some of Protestant opinions," he observes, " say
that this institution, though remaining outwardly the
same, lost its identity as a Church before the Reforma-
tion, in consequence of the corruption of doctrine and
prevalence of idolatry. This, however, is an opinion
that will hardly be maintained in serious discussion.
The primd facie grounds for it are exceedingly weak-
ened when we consider that the Scriptures remained
uncorrupt, that their essential doctrines held their place
undisputed in the Creeds, and that the prevalent errors,
however grievous, firstly, were such as did not directly
overthrow or deny, as Hooker says, the foundation ;
secondly, that they had not then been generally recog-
nised and established as of faith by any Council of the
* Gladstone, Church Principles, 290.

AKCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 35

Church, much less by any decree in which the Church CHAP.
of England had taken part. We may therefore assume, ^J^
on the part of all those who believe in the perpetual In7<^1°
visibility of the Church of Christ, that it was actually
existing by unbroken succession in this country at the
period of the Eeformation." '•

To this we may add the fact, that by both Church
and State measures had been adopted to annihilate the
Papal authority in England, long before any notion was
entertained of dealing with any points of doctrine. In
the twenty-eighth year of Henry's reign, when king
and parliament and Church were vehement in their op-

-ition to Protestantism, some of the chief acts against
the pope and his pretensions were passed in parliament.
The Commons followed the example of the House of
Lords ; and in the House of Lords the lords spiritual
formed a decided majority. Such were the acts pro-
hibiting appeals to Rome ; for the payment of first-
fruits to the crown ; for repudiating all the exactions of
the court of Rome ; for enforcing the act of convoca-
tion in the assertion of the royal supremacy ; the r
nunciation of papal bulls, faculties, and dispensations,
together with the act for utterly extinguishing the
usurped authority of the See of Rome. The Church
of England was a ntipapal before it was reformed.!

At the commencement of the dispute between the
Church of England and the court of Rome, in the

* Gladstone, Church Principles, 307. There are three -works
of Mr. Gladstone to which reference is made, and which, as exposi-
tory of the doctrine and history of the Church of England, will
always he regarded as standard works : 1, Church Principles. 2,
The State in its Eolations to the Church. 3, Eemarks on the
Eoyal Supremacy. The last was published in 1850.

f 24 Henry VIII. c. 12 ; 25 Henry VIII. c. 19 ; 25 Henry VIII.
c. 20; 20 Henry VIII. c. 3; 25 Henry VIII. c. 16; 28 Henry
VIII. c. 10.

D 2

LIVES OF THE

Introduc-
tory.

sixteenth century, the State accepted as a fact, what
the Church affirmed ; that the work to be done, by the
co-operation of the civil and ecclesiastical authorities
in England, was not the displacing of the old Church,
and the supplanting of it by some new sect ; but the
gradual reformation of that old Catholic Church;* which

* The word Catholic was originally employed to distinguish the
Church after our Lord's coming, when it Avas open to all mankind
who might seek admission by baptism, from the Church before our
Lord's coming, when it was confined to one nation — the Clmrch
under the commission to preach the Gospel to every creature, from
the Church enjoined to keep itself separate from all the rest of man-
kind— the Church preparing for the second coming of our Lord,
from the Church preparing for His first coming. When Chris-
tians' divided themselves into sects, it was used, as a word of the
second intention, to distinguish from the sects that Church in which
the apostolical succession was preserved ; and when Christians be-
came separated by doctrine, it was used to distinguish those who
deferred to the creeds and formularies of the Church from heretics,
those who, as their name denotes, relied upon their private judg-
ment, without extraneous help. It came to mean, by degrees, the
real Church in any locality, implying that those who seceded from
it were schismatical, even when not absolutely heretical. Hence
Mr. Coleridge, Avith his usual clearness of expression, remarks,
" The present adherents of the Church of Rome are not, in my judg-
ment, Catholics. We are Catholics. We can prove that we held
the doctrine of the primitive Church for the first three hundred
years. The Council of Trent made the Papists what they are." —
Table Talk, p. 31. "The adherents of the Church of Rome, I
repeat, are not Catholics. If they are, it follows that we are here-
tics and schismatics." — Table Talk, p. 32. Although for party
purposes the Romanists are permitted very frequently to assume a
title which conveys an argument, what is here stated by Coleridge
is well known to every student of English history. A late decision
in the Court of Queen's Bench may be cited as showing what out-
law is on the subject treated above. A clergyman desired to esta-
blish his claim to certain marriage fees. He would have gained his
suit if he could have proved that his predecessors in the time of
Richard I. had received the payment ; and failing in that proof, he
was nonsuited. The whole process depended upon the sameness of
the Church before and after the Reformation.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 37

had been established here in the first instance, by the CHAP.

joint labour and devotion of Augustine, the first Arch-

bishop of Canterbury, and Ethelbert, King of Kent, Int^uc
the Bretwalda.

In the preamble of the statute of 1532, it is expressly
stated, that the act had reference to the body spiritual,
usually called the English Church ; that this Church
had power when any cause of the law divine happened
to come in question or of spiritual learning ; and is
meet of itself, without the intermeddling of any ex-
terior person or persons, to declare all such doubts and
to administer all such offices and duties as to their
rooms spiritual appertain ; that to keep them from cor-
ruption and sinister ari'eetion the king's most noble
progenitors, and the anteeessors of the nobl.-s of the
realm, had sufficiently endowed the said Church with
honour and possessions.*

In an act passed in the following year, for abolish-
ing the payment of Peter-pence to Rome, there is a
proviso, that nothing, in that act contained, shall be
hereafter interpreted or expounded, " that your grace,
your nobles, and subjects intend by the same to decline
or vary from the congregation of Christ's Church, in
anything concerning the Catholic faith of Christendom."

Henry VIII. in a letter, which he caused to be ad-
dressed in his name to Cardinal Pole, speaks thus : —
" In all your book, your purpose is to bring the king's
grace by penance home into the Church again, as a
man clearly separate from the same already. And his
recess from the Church ye prove not otherwise, than by
the fame and common opinion of those parties who be
far from the knowledge of the truth of our affairs
here/' &c. ..." Ye presuppose for a ground the king's
grace to be severed from the unity of Christ's Church,
* 24 Henry VJII. c. 12 ; Statutes of the Eeahn, II. 427.

38 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, and that, in taking upon him the title of supreme head
_Jx. of the Church of England, he intendeth to separate his
Intt1o°rdruc' Church of England from the unity of the whole body
of Christendom, taking upon him the office, belonging
unto spiritual men grounded in the Scripture, of im-
mediate cure of souls ; and attribute to himself that
which belongeth to priesthood, as to preach and teach
the word of God, and to minister the sacraments ; and
that he doth not know what belongeth to a Christian
king's office, and what unto priesthood ; wherein surely
both you and all others, so thinking of him, do err too
far," &c. . . . " His full purpose and intent is, to see
the laws of Almighty God purely and sincerely
preached and taught, and Christ's faith without blot-
kept and observed in his realm ; and not to separate him-
self or his realm anywise from the unity of Christ's
Catholic Church, but inviolably at all times to kee})
and observe the same, and to redeem his Church of
England out of all captivity of foreign powers hereto-
fore usurped therein, into the Christian state that all
Churches of all realms were in at the beginning ; and to
abolish and clearly put away such usurpations as hereto-
fore in this realm the Bishops of Rome have, by many un-
due means, increased to their great advantage," &c. . . .
" Wherefore, since the king's grace goeth about to
reform his realm, and reduce the Church of England
into that state, that both this realm and all others were,
in at the beginning of the faith, and many hundred
years after ; if any prince or realm will not follow
him, let them do as they list: he doth nothing but
stablisheth such laws as were in the beginning, and
such as the Bishop of Rome professeth to observe.
Wherefore neither the Bishop of Rome himself nor
other prince ought of reason tobe miscontent herewith"*
* Burnet, III., Records 52.

AECHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 39

How carefully this principle was observed, through- CHAP.

out the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the student ui history 1_

is well aware. If, during the reigns of James I. and In£^uc
his successor, an Erastian tone insinuated itself into
the writings, even of some of our great divii. 3,

still asserted, in the words of one of the most
distinguished among those eminent men : " I make
not the least doubt in the world, but that the Church
of England before the Reformation and the Church
of England after the Reformation are as much the
same Church as a garden before it is weeded and
after it is weeded is the same garden ; or a vine
before it l)e pruned and after it is pruned and freed
from the luxuriant branches is one and the same
vine."*

The representatives in England of the Church of

Rome are, at the present time, as much a dissenting

as any Protestant nonconform: We can

indeed give the date when the Romanists formed

themselves into a separate community. AW all know,

that it was only within the last few years, that they

iblished a hierarchy in England — tracing that

rarehy not to Augustine, but to Pope Pius IX.
the reigning pontiff. Then- position in England is
.-vmbolized in their establishment at York. In that
city we, the reformed English Catholics, have inherited
the cathedral erected by our forefathers. It is our in-
heritance, just as an estate pertains to some ancient
family in right of its being the representative of the
family to which the property was originally granted.
by the side of the ancient cathedral, the Romish
nonconformists have erected, with questionable taste,
what they call a pro-cathedral. It is as like a foreign
cathedral as a building can be, which, in the absence
*Bramhall, i. 113.

40 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, of that which constitutes a cathedral, the Cathedra of
_^_ the diocesan, can only be a cathedral nominally,
lutrodue- They may retort the charge on foreign Protestants ;
for the Lutherans, driven out of the Church, were under
the necessity of forming a sect. Their sect was made
to resemble the ancient Church as nearly as was con-
sistent with their protest against those corruptions
which, if they took the Bible for their guide, rendered
their conformity to the ancient Church in their country,
a thing impossible.

The Church of England, on the contrary, stood like
an old cathedral. We were Catholic and Anglican ;
and when, with the Bible in our hands, we looked
around us, we found "our holy and beautiful house,
the place where our fathers worshipped," filled with
graven images, which we displaced. We found only a
few, comparatively speaking, kneeling at the altar of
our Lord our Saviour and our God ; while multitudes
were prostrate before the image of the Virgin Mary.
That image became to us Nehushtan ; and, explaining
to men the nature of idolatry, we bade them do
service, by worshipping, to God, and to God only. The
walls were daubed with untempered mortar, and on
them were painted the history of saints, either wholly
imaginary, or whose legends, we are told by an hagio-
grapher, were intended to relate not what they really
did, but what they might have done, because to do so
was part of the saintly character. The bats and birds
were occupying portions of the building, and other
portions were beslimed with filth. We did away at
once with that which was absolutely wrong ; and we
prepared to set in order that which, though right, was
out of place. The papal arms were demolished ; but
the bishop's throne remained, the marble chair in which
Augustine sat. The tawdry vestments in which the

ARCHBISHOPS ' OF CANTERBURY. •A

clergy were arrayed or the sanctuary decorated, were CHAP.
rendered conformable to a better taste, than that by v_J_
which they were overlaid in the. middle ages. The ^t™^0
pulpit remained ; but the preacher was required to
ground his discourses on the Bible, and the Bible only,
which he was to interpret by the light afforded from
the primitive Church. The Holy Table still continued
an altar, at which communicants might offer them-
selves with the Church militant and triumphant, their
souls and bodies to be a reasonable, holy and lively
.sacrifice to our heavenly Father ; but the sacrifice of
thi- Mass — the re-offering of Christ as a sacrifice for the
living and the dead — was repudiated and condemned.
The Church of England being one and the same
Church before and after the Reformation, our Reformers
accepted the doctrine and followed the usages handed
down to them, from our forefathers. But, by the in-
tellectual hurricane which \vas convulsing European
society, they were made sensible that, although the
foundation was secure, there was much in the super-
structure which it could not sustain. Like the
Lutherans and Zuinglians, they were ready to bring
the doctrines transmitted to them, whenever their
meaning was disputed, to the test of Scripture ; and,
when the dispute extended further as to the meaning
of Scripture, they were prepared to yield to the de-
cisions of the first four general councils. These
councils were distinguished from all others; they were
convened not to record the opinions of the fathers,
but to bear testimony to the tradition of apostolic
doctrine, preserved in the primitive Churches, over
which those fathers respectively presided. Our Re-
formers iv<-eivcd the doctrines of the Church as they
found them, assuming, that their existence was a
primd facie evidence in their favour. They did not

42 LIVES OF THE

reject anything because it was mediaeval ; but when
anything mediaeval was of a questionable character,
introduc- fa^y ^hen SOUght for guidance from Scripture ; and if
the Scripture was not clear, — if, when two parties were
at variance, both of them claimed Scripture as being
on their side, — they then yielded to the decisions of the
primitive councils or to the evidence of the primitive
writers. They did not do as the Romanists, who pro-
fessed to yield to the authority of the fathers, but in-
terpreted the fathers by the tenets and practices of the
existing Church ; but if at any time they found an exist-
ing dogma contrary to the patristic theology, then they
made an alteration ; the modern yielded to the ancient.
They fully understood, that " antiquity ought to attend
as the handmaid of Scripture, to wait upon her as her
mistress, and to observe her ; to keep off intruders
from making too bold with her, and to discourage
strangers from misrepresenting her." For as Dr. Water-
land observes : " Those who lived in or near to the
apostolic times, might retain in memory what the
Apostles themselves, or their immediate successors,
thought or said upon such and such points; and though
there is no trusting in such case to oral tradition as
distinct from Scripture, nor to written disagreeing with
Scripture, yet written accounts, consonant to Scrip-
ture, are of use to confirm and strengthen Scripture,
and to ascertain its true meaning." They held that if
" what appears but probably to be taught in Scripture
itself, appears certainly to have been taught by the
Primitive and Catholic Church, such probability so con-
firmed and strengthened carries with it the force of
demonstration." *

But although this principle was strictly observed
throughout our Reformation, — from the primacy of
* Waterland's Works, v. 261, ii. 8.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 43

"Warham and the reign of Henry- VIII. to the primacy
of Juxon and the reign of Charles II.— it was applied
gradually and according to circumstances. Our Reform-
ation was a practical movement throughout. We had
no fine-spun theories, no speculations among our divines,
no original thinkers, such as Luther, Melancthon, or
Calvin ; as we are not now, so we never have been a
theorizing people. A grievance was complained of,
admitted, and redressed. Abuses were pointed out,
examined, and removed. There was no desire to inno-
vate from the mere love of innovation ; there was an
instinctive feeling that the present was connected with
the past, and a reverence for antiquity was the result.
For every step taken a precedent was sought. The first
decided measure towards the Reformation of our Church
was the resumption of the royal supremacy ; and no
point can be produced more fully calculated to establish
the statement now made. On this subject Professor
Brewer justly observes : " The notions that the royal
supremacy leapt full armed from the brain of Henry
VIII. ; that the clergy were irresponsible even in spiri-
tual matters, or that the Pope could dictate from Rome
to the sovereigns of this country, at least to Henry VII.
or Henry VIII. beyond what those princes were willing
to allow — still more, that on the papal fiat depended
the abstract right or wrong of any question in the
minds of the people — are idle phantoms. The canon
law had grown up side by side with the laws of the
realm. In the weakness and imperfection of other laws,
it seemed no more than fitting, that the clergy, as a
spiritual body, should be governed by spiritual laws:
the encroachments of those laws, and the difficulty of
adjusting them with the temporal laws, provoked fre-
quent disputes ; but then it remained with the king to
decide how far those spiritual laws should be operative.

44 LIVES OF THE

Antecedently to the Reformation, Convocation could
pass no canons without the king's consent ; no bull or
introduc- ecclesiastical constitution could be published in this
country without his sanction ; no bishop, no abbot, no
prior could assume their several offices without the
royal permission. As a right, though not always as a
fact, the supremacy of the king had continued from
time immemorial : — the usurpations upon that right
were resisted and modified by the energy and will
of the sovereign." *

With the truth of this statement the reader of the
present work is already familiar ; but, if he desires to
see the fact more fully established, he may be referred
to Sir Edward Coke's reports, " On the case of Caudrey,
Parson of South Lufnam." He shows, by historical
references, that the Act of Supremacy was not a statute
introducing a new law, but that it was merely declara-
tory of the old. He proves, that the royal supremacy
was in theory always held. Although it was frequently
the interest of the crown to make common cause with
the pope against the English bishops and other clergy,
yet, when the prerogatives of the crown, at any time,
came into collision with the assumed power of the
papacy, the supremacy of the king over all causes and
all persons, ecclesiastical as well as civil, was regarded
as an indisputable fact of the constitution.

The reader will remember that from the Conquest to
the Reformation, the kings of England were, at their
coronation, required to make oath, that they would ob-
serve and do the laws of good King Edward. Edward
the Confessor was acknowleged by all to be a nursing
father of the Church ; but touching the royal supremacy
he thus declared the law : " The king, who is the vicar
of the Highest King, is ordained to this end, that he
* Preface to Letters and Papers, Henry VIII. vol. ii.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 4.)

sliall govern and rule the earthly kingdom and people CHAP.
of the Lord, and above all things the Holy Church, and ___,
that he defend the same from, wrongdoers, and pluck Introduc-

. . tory.

up destroy and root out workers of mischief."

When we remember, that William, the Xonnan in-
vaded England under the papal benediction ; the en-

:nent of this law, as soon as the conquered English

Hed their ascendency, is peculiarly significant.
To Coke's statement.-, additions might be easily made ;
although he is sufficiently copious for the complete
establishment of his case. He shows, that the bishop-

in England having been founded by the king's
progenitors, the advowsons belonged of right to the
crown ; that they were at first donativ. the case

at the present time in Ireland and the colonies ; and
that the privilege of election was a concession made to
chapters by the king, whose conge d'clirc was therefore

— ary. Long before the Reformation, the king could
exempt from the dominion of the ordinary ; and grant,
not episcopal orders of course, but episcopal jurisdiction.
All religious houses of royal foundation were by the
king exempted from episcopal jurisdiction, and he con-
stituted himself the visitor, discharging the office by a
ri »yal commission appointed for the service. He could
convert seculars into regulars,! and exonerate — which
the pope could not— Cistercians and other orders from

* Rex autem qni V irnmi Regis -est, ad hoc est constitutive

lit regnum to-renum ft populum Domini et super omnia sanctam
i<eneretur ecchsiam ejus, ft regat et ab injuriosis drftndat, tt male-
jicos ab ea evellat, et destruat tt penitm desptrdat. See K. Edw.
Laws, c. 19, Spehu. Cone. torn. i. p. 63. The reader may also lie
referred to the preface to Collier's second volume, folio, the fourth
of the octavo edition. See also Leges Eccles. Edw. Eeg. et Con-
fessor, cc. 15 et 5 ap. Spelman, Concil. i. torn i 620, where the
la\vs of the other Saxon kings referred to by Coke may he found.
Cf. Bramhall, i. Ul.
2 Hen. IV. c. 3.

46 LIVES OF THE

the payment of tithes.* He could appropriate churches.f
Ten churches, for example, were appropriated to the
introduc- akkey of Croyland by the Saxon kings ; three churches
by the Conqueror to the abbey of Battle, and twenty
by Henry I. to the church of Salisbury. The disposi-
tion of preferments upon lapse, accrued to the king;
and the king being lord paramount, he only could incur
no lapse, — " nullum tempus occurrit Regi." It was
death, or the forfeiture of all his goods, for any one to
publish the pope's bull without the king's permission ;
and, except with the royal licence, no papal legate
dared to place his foot on English ground.

Having introduced this subject by a quotation from
Professor Brewer, I shall sum it up in the powerful
language of Mr. Gladstone. " That the pope," he says,
" was the source of ecclesiastical jurisdiction in the
English Church before the Reformation, is an assertion
of the gravest import, which ought not to have been,
thus taken for granted. It is one which I firmly believe
to be false in history, false in law — which in my
view, as an Englishman, is degrading to the nation, and

as a Christian, to the Church The fact really is

this : a modern opinion, which by force of modern cir-
cumstances, has of late gained great favour in the Church
of Rome, is here dated back and fastened upon ages to
whose fixed principles it was unknown and alien ; and
the case of the Church of England is truly hard, when
the papal authority of the middle ages is exaggerated
far beyond its real and historical scope, with the effect
only of fastening that visionary exaggeration, through
the medium of another fictitious notion of wholesale
transfer of the papal privileges to the crown, upon us,
as the true and legal measure of royal supremacy." $

* 2 Hen. IV. c. 4. f 17th Edw. II. c. 8.

J Gladstone, Kemarks on the Royal Supremacy, 17. Bishop

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 47

In the parliament liolden at Carlisle in the year CHAP.
1306, being the 35th of Edward I. the Church was _i_
spoken of in the same terms in which it would be Int^U(
spoken of at the present time. " The Holy Church, of
England was founded in the estate" — not of papacy
but — " of prelacy ; within the realm of England — not
out of it — by the king and his progenitors with the
earls, barons, and other nobles of the said realm and
their ancestors ; to inform the people in the law of God,
and to keep hospitality, give alms, and do other works
of charity, &c. And the said kings in times past, were
wont to have their advice and counsel for the safeguard
of the realm, when they had need of such prelates and
<-lerks so advanced ; the Bishop of Rome usurping the
seignories of such benefices, did give and grant the
.same benefices to aliens which did never dwell in
England, and to cardinals which might not dwell
here, &c., in adimllatioii of the state of the Holy
Church of England, disherison of the king, earls,
barons, and other nobles of the realm, and in offence
and destruction of the laws and rights of this
realm, and against the good disposition and will of
the first founders ; it was enacted by the king, —

Gardyner wrote as follows : — " The question is now in everybody's
mouth, whether the consent of the universal people of England
rests on divine right, by which they declare and regard their illus-
trious king, Henry YIII. to be the supreme head on earth of the
English Church ; and by the free vote of this parliament, have in-
vited him to use his right and call himself head of the English
Church in name, as he is in fact. In which act," he continues, " no
new thing was introduced ; only they determined that a power
which, of divine right, belongs to their prince, should be more
clearly asserted, by adopting a more significant expression ; and so
much the rather in order to remove the cloud from the eyes of the
vulgar, with wliich the falsely pretended power of the Bishop of
Rome has now for some ages overshadowed them." — Steph.Gardineri,
De Yera Obedientia, Ease. App. p. 108,

48 LIVES OF THE

CHAP. Edward I. — with assent of all the lords and com-

monalty in full parliament, that the said oppressions,

Into°duC" grieyances an<l damage in this realm from thenceforth
should not be suffered." *

Of the Statutes of Provisors and Prsemunire, having
had occasion repeatedly to refer to them, we need only
here remark, that they were passed to protect the clergy
as well as the laity — or the clergy more than the laity
—of the Church of England, from papal aggression ;
and that they are based on the royal supremacy. In
the Statute of Provisors it is declared, " Our sovereign
lord the king and his heirs shall have and enjoy for
the time the collations to the archbishops and other
dignities elective which be of his advowry ; such as his
progenitors had before free election was granted : sith
the first elections were granted by the king's progeni-
tors upon a certain form and condition, as, namely, to
demand license of the king to choose, and, after choice
made, to have his royal assent . . . which condition not
being kept, the thing ought by reason to return to its
first nature." Further, by the same Statute of Provisors,
it is declaratively enacted, that it is the right of the
crown of England, and the law of the realm, that upon
such mischiefs and damages happening to the realm
(by the encroachments and oppressions of the court of
Eome, mentioned in the body of that law), the king-
ought and is bound by his oath, with the accord of his
people in parliament, to make remedy and law for the
removing of such mischiefs. We find," says Bramhall,
" at least seven or eight such statutes made in the
reigns of several kings against papal provisions, reser-
vations, and collations, and the mischiefs that flowed
from thence." f

* Coke's Eeports, i. 14. Gibson's Codex, tit. iii. cc. 1, 2.
t Bramhall, ed. Haddan, i. 147.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 49

In the Statute of Prsemunire it is asserted, that " the CHAP.

crown of England hath been so free at all times, that — J^
it hath been in no earthly subjection, but immediately InJ™j!"c
subjected to God in all things touching its regality, and
to no other ; and ought not to be .submitted to the
pope." *

That such a Church had power to reform itself is at
once apparent, and we may be inclined to applaud the
wisdom of the sixteenth century ; when our ancestors,,
no longer content with damming up the stream, as
their predecessors had done, stopped up the very foun-
tain of papal tyranny.

Aa the subject of royal supremacy will come fre-
quently before us in the present book, it has been
judged expedient to enter upon it thus fully ; but the
whole question relating to the royal prerogative ha>
been complicated and oK-euivd by a neglect, which not
unfrequently occurs, of distinguishing between the
royal and the sacerdotal powers. Both Henry VIII.
and Queen Elizabeth clearly perceived, and, in theory,
admitted, the distinction. They could discern the
boundaries between the two ; although, by their
despotic tempers, they were continually involved in
inconsistencies and contradictions, f The distinction
itself was totally disregarded by Crurnwell and the
unprincipled men who formed the government of
Edward VI. ; and the royal supremacy was too often
permitted to encroach on the sacerdotal powers through
the weakness, the servility, and want of fixed prin-

* 16th Eic. II. c. 5, s. 1, Statute of Prsemunire.
•f Mr. Gladstone having entered into a full explanation of this
subject, refers to the authentic explanation of the Eoyal Preroga-
tive, issued by Queen Elizabeth in the year 1559. In these she
claims " no other authority, than, under God, to have the sovereignty
over all manner of persons, ecclesiastical or temporal, so as no foreign
power shall or ought to have any superiority over them."

VOL. VI. E

50 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, ciples on the part of Archbishop Cranmer. Much injury
was done to the cause of the Church through the mis-
lutroduc- taken policy of our leading ecclesiastics, under the un-
fortunate dynasty of the Stuarts. To strengthen their
position against the Eomish nonconformists on the one
hand, and the Puritan nonconformists on the other, they
first exaggerated the royal prerogative, and then applied
it for the annihilation or depression of their opponents.
A deviation from right principle exposes those who are
guilty of it to a recoil ; and, at the present time,
Romanist, Puritan, and Infidel unite with party poli-
ticians, and, in parliament or through the press, call for
a tyrannical and despotic exertion of the royal supre-
macy, for the purpose of damaging the Church itself.

On the 31st of March, 1534, the Convocation of
Canterbury, and on the 5th of May the Convocation
of York, declared, that " the pope of Rome hath no
greater jurisdiction conferred on him by God in Holy
Scripture, in this kingdom of England, than any other
foreign bishop."* Thus spoke the clergy first, and
their decree was, though not till after the lapse of some
time, ratified by the laity in parliament.

It was at the same time admitted, that the sacerdotal
power, controlled as we have seen by the royal supre-
macy, devolved upon the primate of all England.
When the title of " supreme head," subsequently
dropped by his successors, was for a season assumed by
Henry, Tunstal, bishop of Durham, a good and learned
man, objected that, although the title had an inoffensive
appearance at first view, he nevertheless thought, that
this recognition of the ancient royal prerogative ought
to be couched in more discriminating terms. The posi-
tion in which Convocation was left at the Reformation,
and the royal authority as admitted by the act of sub-
* Wilkins, iii. 767.

AKCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 51

scription, are so generally misunderstood, and the whole CHAP.
subject is so forcibly expressed by Mr. Gladstone, that, — J —
long as the passage is in which he treats the subject, I Il£!jJIM
shall present it to the reader. " The Kefonnation sta-
tutes," he says, " did not leaye the Convocation in the
same condition relatively to the crown as the parliament.
It was under more control : but its inherent and
independent power was thereby more directly recog-
nised. The king was not the head of Convocation ; it
was not merely his council. The archbishop was its
head, and summoned and prorogued it. It was not
power, but leave, that this body had to seek from the
crown, in order to make canons. A canon without the
royal assent was already a canon, though without the
force of law ; but a bill which lias passed the two
houses is without a force of any kind, until that assent
is given. Again, the royal assent is given to canons
in the gross, to bills one by one ; which well illustrat
the difference between the control in the one case and
the actuating and moving power in the other. But
the language of these instruments respectively affords
the clearest and the highest proof. In the canons
(Canon l) we find the words, 'We decree and ordain ;'
that is, we the members of the two Houses of Convoca-
tion. But in our laws, ' Be it enacted by the king's
most excellent majesty, with the advice and consent of
the lords spiritual and temporal, and commons.'
Whereas in the canons the king does everything except
enacting : with a remarkable accumulation of operative
words he assents, ratifies, confirms and establishes,
propounds, publishes, and enjoins and commands to
be kept. Every one of these words recognises that the
canon has a certain force of its own, while it purports
to convey, and does convey, another force. In the one
case the crown is the fountain of the whole authority

E 2

52 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, of the law ; the lords and commons are its advisers.
In the other, the Convocation decrees and ordains ; the
king gives legal sanction and currency to that which,
without such sanction, would have remained a simple
appeal to conscience. In statutes, the king enacts with
the advice and assent of parliament ; in canons, the
Convocation enacts, with the licence and assent of the
crown. I now speak not of what is desirable or other-
wise, but simply of the matter of fact : from which it
appears that the idea of a separate spiritual power for
legislative purposes was much more carefully preserved
(and with good reason) by the statutes of Henry VIII.
than it had been when Church law went forth in the
Capitularies of Charlemagne, or the Code and Novels of
Justinian, undistinguished as to the form of its autho-
rity from laws purely civil.

" Let it be seriously considered whether, so far as the
essence of the principles of the Church is concerned,
there was any violation of them in this submission
and promise of the clergy, more than in the placitum
regium, which the see of Rome itself, with however
bad a grace, has been obliged to endure, and which the
whole Grallicaii Church, the most learned and illustrious
of all the daughters of the Roman see, and with it
the entire Cisalpine school, cordially received. This
Placitum, says Van Espen, comes to exist in consider-
ation of the necessary impact of ecclesiastical laws
upon the civil rights and secular interests of men. It
cannot be restricted to any class of subjects. It
reaches even to those bulls of the pope which are
dogmatical. 'Ex hactenus dictis concluditur, placitum
regium ceque requiri ante publicationem bullarum
dogmaticarum, quam cceterorum rescriptorum! And
he quotes an author much more favourable than him-
self to the. papal power, who nevertheless holds it

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 53

allowable — ( Potestatem , scecvfo. rein mandare aitt con- CHAP
iff sine suo heneplacito et examine nemo — -J-^
liuj litteris, vel exec >det Int«*i™

J tory.

easdem."

Against the resumption of the royal supremacy,
which for the last hundred years had been scarcely
recognised, objections were urged by other persons
besides Tunstal. Whenever Henry could lend his
mind calmly to the consideration of the subject, his
skill in argument was such as to command attention ;
he contends, that it pertains to the prerogative of the
crown to legislate even in things spiritual when they
bear upon life, liberty, or property. He admits, what
nobody at that time, as the king asserts, would deny :
that preaching and administering the sacraments per-
tain to the sacerdotal function : and that our Lord and
Saviour gave to the bishops a commission for that pur-
pose. But he adds, our Lord Himself, though possess-
ing a sacerdotal character, nevertheless submitted to
Pilate's jurisdiction ; and St. Paul, he observes, though
a priest of apostolical distinction, made no scruple to
" I stand at Caesar's judgment seat, where I ought to be
judged.7' The king refers to the laws of Justinian, and
asks, with what conscience could that emperor have
made laws touching the regulation of the Church, if he
did not believe that spiritual society to have been part
of his charge ? " It is true," he said, " princes are sons
of the Church, but this does not hinder them from be-
ing supreme heads of Christian men." " We grant," he
continues, "that the sacraments, — these conveyances of
grace — are to be ministered only by the cleronr invested
with spiritual power ; but then, if in their function
they misbehave themselves to a degree of scandal, the
civil magistrate may try the cause and punish the
* Gladstone, Remarks on the Royal Supremacy. 31.

54 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, crime. And then as to the spiritual character : since
_J_ the prince's permission is required, before they can dis-
Intonduc" charge the functions of their office, why should they
scruple to call him head, with respect to that power
which they derive from him 1 At the same time, he
remarks that to avoid calumny a restriction is added by
the Convocation — quantum per CJiristi legem licet" '
The arguments of the king had their full weight on
the mind of Bishop Tunstal. The bishop consented in
1535, to swear to the royal supremacy; and in 1536,
when Henry was attacked by Eeginald Pole in his De
Unitate Ecclesiasticd, Tunstal came forward in the
king's defence. He indignantly, as we have shown in a
preceding quotation, repudiated the calumny brought
against the king of a defection from the Catholic
Church, and justified him against the absurd charge
of confounding the royal and the priestly offices.
"It is true the king hath rescued the English Church
from the encroachments of the court of Eome, and
if this be a singularity, he deserves praise. For
the king has only reduced matters to their original
state, and helped the Church of England to her
ancient freedom." He boldly asserts, that the conduct
of the king was in accordance with the wish of the
nation ; and that, if he should change his mind and
be willing to concede to the Bishop of Eome a right
to exercise the powers, which he had latterly usurped
and had long since claimed, he would find it difficult
to obtain the consent of his people through an act of
parliament. So united were all parties upon this sub-
ject at this time, that both Gardyner and Bonner re-
iterated the same assertion ; the first in his book De

* Herbert, 320 ; Collier, iv. 180. The letter is printed in the
second part of the Cabala, i. 127. This passage shows that to the
proviso introduced in convocation the king was not opposed.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 55

Verd Obedient id, and the second in the introduction
he prefixed to that celebrated work Bishop Gardyner
declares that, on the resumption of the royal supre-
macy, the king acted with the consent of " the most
excellent and learned bishops, and of the nobles and
whole people of England." He states, " that no new
thing was introduced when the king was declared to
be the supreme head ; only the bishops, nobles, and
clergy of England determined that a power which of
divine right belongs to their prince, should be more
clearly asserted by adopting a more significant ex-
pression.*"

It has been acutely observed, that a further and very
important mitigation of the supremacy existed in tin-
fact, that it was claimed even by Henry VIII. not as
an accession to his prerogative, but as an inheritance
of which the crown had been of lai defrauded.

Queen Elizabeth, with a temper as d«-ip»>tSr as that of
her father, and with less command over her tongue when
her angry passions were aroused, was equally clear-
sighted when she approached the subject of the
supremacy as a legislator rather than as an adminis-
trator. Her admonitions \\viv issued in 1559. She
complains of " simple men deceived by the malicioii.-:"
and solemnly declares, that she had no intention or
desire to claim' in things spiritual any other authority
than that " which it, mid was »f i.mc'u'nt time, due to
the imperial crown of this realm."

In 15G9, on the suppression of the northern re-
bellion, she published a proclamation, in which she
that " she claimed no other ecclesiastical autho-
rity than had been due to her predecessor ; thai
pretended no right to define articles of faith, to change
ancient ceremonies formerly adopted by the Catholic

* Steph. Gard. De VerA Obedientia, Fasc. A pp. 103.

56 LIVES OF THE

.CHAP, and Apostolic Church, or to minister the word or the
^ — sacraments of God ; but that she conceived it her duty
"tor UC~ to take care that all estates, under her rule, should live
in the faith and obedience of the Christian religion ; to
see all laws, ordained for that end, duly observed ; and
to provide, that the Church be governed and taught by
archbishops, bishops, and ministers, i.e. deacons." She
assured her people, that she meant not to molest them for
their religious opinions, provided they did not gainsay
the Scriptures, or the Creeds Apostolic and Catholic; nor
for matters of religious ceremony, as long as they should
outwardly conform to the laws of the realm, which en-
forced the frequentation of divine service in the ordi-
nary churches.

Her sentiments may, in fact, be found in the well-
known letter from Bishop Jewel to Bullinger, in
which he says : — " The queen will not endure the
style of Head of the Church of England. She is
altogether of opinion, that the title is too big for
any mortal, and ought to be given to none but our
blessed Saviour."* The whole subject is summed up in
our Thirty-seventh Article. " The queen's maj esty hath
the chief power in this realm of England and other
her dominions, unto whom the chief government of all
estates of this realm, whether they be ecclesiastical or
civil, in all causes doth appertain ; and is not, nor
ought to be, subject to any foreign jurisdiction.
Where we attribute to the queen's majesty the chief
government, by which titles we understand the minds
of some slanderous folks to be offended ; we give not to
-our princes the ministering either of God's word or of
the sacraments, the which thing the injunctions also
lately set forth by Elizabeth our queen do most plainly
testify; but that only prerogative which we see to
* Collier, vi. 244.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 57

have been given always to all godly princes in Holy CHAP.
Scripture by God Himself ; that is, that they should _1_
rule all states and degrees committed to their charge In£^u
by God, whether they be ecclesiastical or temporal ;
and restrain with the civil sword, the stubborn and
evil doers. The Bishop of Rome hath no jurisdiction
in this realm of England!'*

When Henry had determined, for reasons which
will presently appear, to appropriate the title of Su-
preme Head to himself, he acted, under the influence
of Crumwell, *;ritn adroitness and a sound judgment.
He was not disposed to seek a favour from the clergy,
or to require at their hands any accession to his
dignity or prerogative. It was not his intention —
nothing could be further from it — to establish a new
He was a Catholic king, resuming in the national
Church, lights and authority which his Catholic- ances-
tors had claimed, if they had not always enjoyed, from

* The title adopted by Henry VIII. in 1534, was " In ten-is" or
" terra, Ecclesire Anglican^ et Hibernica? Supreruum Caput." — Stat.
26 Henry VIII. c. 1 ; see also 35 Henry VIII. c. 3, and 37 Henry
VIII. c. 17. It was continued by Edward VI, 1 Edward VI. c. 12,
sec. 6. In the beginning of her reign it was assumed by Queen
Mary, but was dropped on her marriage with Philip of Spain.
1 and 2 Philip and Mary, c. 8, sec. 23. It was rejected by Queen
Elizabeth, or rather exchanged for that of " supreme governor as well
in all spiritual and ecclesiastical causes," &c. (Oath of Supremacy,
Stat. 1, Eliz. c. 1), and has never since been resumed (Coke upon Little-
ton, 7 b). It is sometimes given to the sovereign in ignorance or in
malignity. Mr. Gladstone, alluding to its being supposed by ignorant
people to be in force, says : "This allegation, however, appears to
be quite erroneous. The note on the act in the statutes at large,
directs our attention to the circumstances, that the act was repealed
by the 1 and 2 Phil, and Mary, c. 8, and that, when the repealing
act was itself repealed, the repealing parts of it were saved, in the
1 Eliz. c. 1, except as to certain of the rescinded acts therein parti-
cularized, among which this is not contained. (See 1 Eliz. c. 1,
sects. 2, 13.)" — Remarks on the Royal Supremacy, 11.

58 LIVES OF THE

time immemorial — rights which had only been of late
years violated or denied. As for the clergy, from their
[Htory.UC proceedings in this very convocation, - - when two
months afterwards they declared that " the pope of
Eome hath no greater jurisdiction conferred upon him
by God in Holy Scriptures, in this kingdom of England,
than any other foreign bishop," * — we know that they
were prepared to reject the papal jurisdiction. They
were aware of the royal prerogative, for it was a question
which had been under discussion for several years ; but,
after what had lately occurred, they were certainly justi-
fied in regarding with suspicion every step taken by the
king. There was no disinclination to acknowledge his
regal powers to their full extent, or to increase them if the
exigencies of the time required it. But this precise
title, why was it adopted, and adopted at this crisis ?
This, at all events, was a novelty. Did the king, who
had compelled them to tax themselves to such an
enormous extent, intend to claim a right to all their
property ? Was there not some unconstitutional power
clandestinely claimed under a title new to the consti-
tution ? These were questions which might fairly
be asked ; and if the title was offensive to Queen
Elizabeth, if it is still only used by persons who desire
to see the prerogatives of the crown exercised tyranni-
cally against the Church ; it cannot surprise us to hear
that, after a long debate, 011 the 7th of February the
Convocation adjourned without coming to a decision
upon the subject ; that the debate was by adjourn-
ments continued on the 8th, 9th, and 10th of the
month ; that a conference was at last had with the
king,f and that the title was finally conceded in only

* Wilkins, iii. 725.

| It was carefully explained to the king, that there was no wish,
to interfere with his rights ; but that the title was objected to

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY.

a modified form. On the llth of February, Arch-
bishop Warham introduced into Convocation a form
which appeared to him to be inoffensive, and which
the king was willing to accept. The terms of it ran
thus : " Of the English Church and clergy, of w^hich
we recognise his majesty as the singular protector, the
only supreme governor, and, so far as the law of Christ
permits, the supreme head.''*

ne forte jx>st long&t^i teniporis tract um termini in eodem articu!:>
generality positi in sensum improbum traherentur. Att. Eights, 82.
Ex actis MSS.

* Wilkins, 723. Plain as the historical statement really is, it
has been so often "wilfully mis-stated, or is so ignorantly misunder-
stood, that I am induced to add another note from Mr. Gladstone.
His statement is accordant with that which is given above. He says :
"It is utterly vain to argue that the threat of civil consequences which
was held over the Convocation of 1531, as the alternative to follow
upon their resistance to the claim of the crown, could destroy the
validity of their formal act. For in the first place, it does not
appear that the bishops, with whom the final authority must, on
Catholic principles, be held to. lie, were under the influence of tb^e
menaces. Fisher himself was one of those who were present in the
Convocation of 1531, and agreed to the petition of that year. The
spiritual lords constituted an actual majority of the Upper House of
Parliament when the act of 1534 was passed, and do not appear in
any way to have resisted it The whole of the bishops swore to
the royal supremacy in 1535, Fisher having then been already de-
prived for refusing to take the oath of the succession. Collier says :
' Many of the bishops who had consulted the records and examined
the practice of the earliest ages, were not disinclined to this change.'
Of the most prominent persons among them, Gardiner, Bonner, and
Tunstal had actually written in favour of it. There is, therefore, no
reason to believe, that the act was one at variance with the con-
scientious persuasion of the then governors of the Church, — and
Lord Clarendon states in reference to this crisis, with strict historic
truth, that Henry • applied his own laws to the government of his
own people, and this by consent of his Catholic clergy and Catholic
people.' Further, it does not appear that the reluctance which was
manifested by the clergy to the title of headship had any reference
to their regard for the papal claims ; but, on the contrary, that it

CHAP.
I.

Introduc-
tory.

LIVES OF THE

tory.

In 1531, the royal headship was admitted by the
clergy of the Church of England as representecL in the
introduc- two Convocations of Canterbury and York. It was not
till the year 1534, that this title was conceded to the
king by parliament. The parliament had before this
legislated in Church matters, — having followed the
precedents set in former times and especially in the
Statutes of Pro visors and Prsemunire, — to pass in 1532
an act against the payment of annates, and, in 1533, an
act againt appeals to Rome. In the year 1534, when
the parliament confirmed the act of Convocation and
acknowledged the supremacy of the king, it declared
at the same time the adherence of the nation to the

was founded upon an apprehension they reasonably entertained,
that it might seem to detract from the prerogatives of the Redeemer.
Of the qualification itself, quantum per Christi legem licet, it has been
alleged that it nullified the grant ; but on the other hand it might
be urged, with at least equal fairness, that the admission of the
headship is unquestionable, from the very fact that it was thus
limited and. defined. It is, however, more material to remark that
these qualifying words only apply to the term 'head ;' and that if the
clause in which they are found be removed altogether, the docu-
ment remains as obviously fatal to the papal pretensions as if the
headship had been asserted in the 'most absolute form. For the
Convocation, without any scruple or resistance, as we have seen,
acknowledged the king to be 'of the Church and clergy not only
'the chief protector,' but likewise 'the only supreme lord.' And,
indeed, there is the most direct evidence upon this subject. The
Convocation of the Province of York stated in writing to the king
the objections which they entertained ; and, according to Burnet
it appeared by the king's answer to them, that they chiefly
contended that the term 'head' was an improper one, and such
as could not agree -to any but Christ alone. And we shall ob-
serve that the phrase 'supreme and only lord,' which appears to
have passed wholly without opposition, is in itself a much
higher title than that now ascribed by our law to the sovereign of
these realms. So much for the regularity and sufficiency of the
judgment of our national synod against the papal supremacy. "-
Gladstone, ii. 109.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 61

articles of the Catholic faith of Christendom. "Thus," CHAP.

Mr. Gladstone, " we have before us the judgments — .' —
by which the papal supremacy was ecclesiastically In^.u
abolished, and likewise upon which external and legal
effect was given by the law to that sentence of the
native Church."*

To the proceedings which led immediately to the
resumption of the royal authority we shall have

-ion hereafter to revert. The subject has been
mentioned in this place from its connexion with the

lution of the monasteries and the history of
Crumwell.

The same historical investigations which had enabled
Henry to claim the royal supremacy, as an inheritance
of his crown, were equally of avail, to prove, to the
satisfaction of Convocation and of Parliament, that, in
this prerogative, was involved a right of visitation
extending to all collegiate and monastic institutions.
Independently of precedent, it was reasonable, that the
supreme authority in the state, should have intrinsically
a right to ascertain, whether in any institution lay or
clerical, the members were acting in accordance with
the will of their founder, and in obedience to statutes
which they had pledged themselves to observe ;
whether the estates had been judiciously managed or
illegally squandered ; and whether by being taken
out of mortmain they could not be rendered more

* The State in its Relations to the Church. 108. I have quoted
Mr. Gladstone, because the principles of the Church are expressed
by him with his usual force and happy command of words ; and
because I am happy to show that the holding of what are called
liberal political opinions is not inconsistent with the highest view
of Church doctrine and discipline. My American friends will
remember, that their Bishop Hobart, to whom the whole Church
is so deeply indebted, was the most zealous republican.

62 LIVES Or THE

€HAr. conducive to ends for the promotion of which they

_^^ were originally granted.

Into]°yUC The precedents produced from the history of the
country and the conduct of preceding monarchs
established a further right, frequently though not con-
sistently, called into action. When an institution had
outlived its usefulness, or ceased to meet the require-
ments of the age, it might be legally suppressed ; and
its property, on the principle of cy pres, applied to the
promotion of other though cognate works of public
utility.

It has been shown in the preceding book — and the
fact cannot be too often impressed upon the reader's
mind — that popery, as approaching to the modern
notion of ultramontanism, obtained its footing in
England during the Wars of the Eoses ; and yet, even
in the unfortunate reign of Henry VI., a commission
was granted by the crown for the visitation of the
Cistercian monasteries.* In this king's reign also,
certain manors and estates of the alien priories, which
had been forfeited to the crown, were assigned to a
commission, partly lay, partly clerical, in trust for his
school and college. In the fourth year of Henry V.
an act of parliament was obtained by which the alien
priories were suppressed ; and — which was much to
CrumwelTs purpose — the estates were vested in the
crown. The whole history of the alien priories strength-
ened the position of Henry VIII. and his minister; and
the case of these priories had certainly been hard.
Originally filiations of foreign abbeys, their dependance
on the continental monasteries was, in the time of
Henry V, little more than nominal. The monks of
those establishments had become, in process of time,
absolute proprietors of their own estates, and lived
* Fcedera, x. 802.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 63

under priors elected by themselves. No special charges CHAP.
of immorality were brought against them ; but it had
always been assumed, that they must be in the interest
of the enemies of their country ; and their estates were
generally confiscated when there was a war between
England and France. Eighty-one of these priories
had been sequestered by King John ; and, if their
property was restored by Henry III. this only shows,
the more strongly, the right claimed by the civil
authority to deal with those endowments whenever an
emergency arose. Such a confiscation of their property
took place under Edward III. when the property of at
thirty of those establishments was alienated. In
the first year of Henry IV. they were restored; but
only to be again suspended in the eighth year of that
kind's rei^n. Acting under the advice of his privv

A »

council, he seized the property of a certain number of
- for the support of his own household.*
How they were finally extinguished by his son has
been already related ; and we may add, that Henry V.
in the last year of his reign issued injunctions for the
reformation of mouasi The ne< f such a

reformation had b.-eii admitted by a general chapter of
the Benedictines, at which certain reforms were intro-
duced.! But to the practical mind of Henry V. it was
apparent, that the imsympathizing sternness of the
royal prerogative was required to remedy evils, which
monastic tenderness might overlook.

Perhaps a much stronger precedent was to be found
in the suppression of the order of the Knights
Templars at the beginning of the fourteenth century.
The opponents of the Templars set an example which
Cmmwell and Henry were too ready to follow. Eesort

* Fcedera, viii. 101, 510.

t Chron. Croydon Contin. 567.

64 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, was had in the fourteenth, as afterwards in the six-
— ' — teenth century, not only to legal murders ; but also
In*™duc" to that moral persecution to which we still are subject,
and which consists of evil speaking, lying, and slan-
dering. But, however much we may discredit the
exaggerated charges brought against a whole society,
facts will not permit us to doubt, that the knights in
the one instance and the monks in the other afforded,
unfortunately, strong grounds for some portion of the
accusations to which they were exposed.

But, after all, the strongest and most damaging
attack made upon the monasteries was made by the
Church, or rather by Churchmen, in the middle ages ;
by men whose names are, to the present hour, grate-
fully remembered by beneficiaries still profiting by
their munificent wisdom.

In the prevailing ignorance of history in the nine-
teenth century, particularly of what relates to ecclesi-
astical history, the sarcastic ignoramus is permitted,
unrebuked, to speak of our colleges and public schools
as monastic institutions. But from the days of Walter
de Merton colleges and schools were founded in direct
opposition to monasteries ; or certainly for the purposes
of depriving the regulars of the monopoly in educa-
tion which they had hitherto possessed. It is remark-
able, that the few schools and colleges which form an
exception to this rule were themselves, at the dissolu-
tion of the monasteries, suppressed. It was with the
forfeited estates of alien priories and of other mon-
asteries granted by, or purchased from, the crown,
that William of Wykeham endowed his two St. Mary
Winton colleges, the one at Winchester and the other
at Oxford. He is the father of the public school sys-
tem. We have seen in these pages, that his example
was followed by Archbishop Chicheley and William

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 65

of \Vayuflete. All Souls' College and Magdalene are CHAP.

enriched by the spoils of monaster: The royal 1_

founder of King's College, Cambridge, and of Eton — In£>™u

" Where grateful science still adores
Her Henry's holy shade,"

only carried out an intention of his illustrious father.
Henry V. had expressed his intention thus to dedicate to
the purposes of education, the wealth that flowed into the
royal treasury from, the dissolution of the alien priories.

These illustrious personages maintained, that the pro-
perty had been devised for educational purposes and
pious uses ; and, they contended, in the fourteenth
century, as ever since, that the end which the founders
had in view, could be better accomplished by schools
and colleges than by monasteries ; ill-conducted as too
many monasteries had, before that time, become.

Their example had been followed by Cardinal Wolsey
when he planned

" Those twin sisters of learning raised in you,
Ipswich and Oxford."

This great statesman surpassed his predecessors in
the splendour of his conceptions ; and no college in
either University, or in any University in Europe,
would have been able to compete with his, had he
been permitted to accomplish his design. He used
his influence with the crown, to attach to his college
at Oxford the property of twenty-four monasteries,
together with sixty-nine benefices. The same system
of utilizing the property of decayed monasteries was
adopted by a contemporary of "\Yolsey, not his equal
in genius, but far superior to him in that piety which
enabled him to serve his God with more than half
the zeal he served his king ; and to win an incor-
ruptible crown there, " where the wicked cease from

VOL. VI. F

66 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, troubling and the weary are at rest," — Bishop Fisher.

— L_ He was the spiritual adviser of Margaret, countess of
ln{:™luc- Richmond, the grandmother of Henry VIII, and she,
acting under his advice, obtained the dissolution of
certain monasteries, on the ground of the immorality
of their inmates. She devoted the property to the
support of colleges and professorships, in the two
Universities of Oxford and Cambridge.

It must not be forgotten, that the dissolution of the
Hospital of St. John was advised by Bishop Fisher,
because the brethren had entirely neglected the Divine
Service and their other duties ; while of the Nunnery
of St. Rhadegund at Cambridge it was said, that the
inmates had become notoriously profligate. Similar
charges were brought against the nunneries of Higham
and Bromhall to justify the confiscation of their houses
and lands.*

The notion of the sacredness of monastic property
did not spring up, till a later period of our history.
There was no sentiment upon the subject in the fifteenth
or the immediately preceding centuries ; nor did any
superstitious fears arise, such as were afterwards en-
couraged, that a curse would attach to the family
of any one who, when the monastic property was
in the market, became a purchaser. At the time
of the Eeformation, the greatest care was taken to
distinguish between Church property and monastic
property. The former as a rule remained untouched,
unless we regard chantry lands as property belonging
to the Church ; and, if we regard it in that light, we
shall presently see, that this formed a legitimate
exception to what was in general regarded as a rule.
The Church property has come down to us as the
original donors, before the Reformation bequeathed it
* Hymer's Account of Lady Margaret, p. 13.

AKCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 67

to us, except where it had been first absorbed and ap- CHAP.
propriated by the monasteries ; for the titles were lost — ~
by the appropriation ; but whatever belonged to a In*^llu
monastery was confiscated, because the monasteries,
although connected with the Church, were, never-
theless, as distinct from the Church itself, as are
now the colleges of our two Universities. They
stood to the Church in the same relation. So
distinct were the two properties regarded, that, until
the reign of Queen Victoria, the cathedrals of the
old foundation — as they are called, — retained the
property of which they had been in possession from
the earliest times. The cathedrals in which the
chapters consisted of secular clergy were unmolested.
Those cathedrals from which, through the influence,
first of Dunstan and then of Lanfranc, the secular
clergy were driven, to make way for the regulars,
were, on the restoration of the seculars under
Henry VIII. subjected to the same treatment as other
monastic establishments, and became new foundations.
Moreover, by a short-sighted and selfish policy, the
monks of the larger convents had been unintentionally
preparing the way for the dissolution of the monastic
institute. There are certain animals who fatten them-
selves by making inferior animals of their own species
their prey. In like manner the lesser monasteries had
been very frequently absorbed by the larger abbeys.
The distinction between the two classes, the greater and
the lesser monasteries, was not made for the first time
by Crurnwell ; nor was it he who, in the first instance,
disparaged the conduct of the lesser monasteries, con-
trasting their immoralities with the decorum observed
in the larger establishments. The abbots had them-
selves brought the charge against brethren living in
distant cells. That the inmates of the latter might

'J8 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, be rendered amenable to discipline they were sum-

__J^ moned to the parent institution; their own buildings

introduc- were desecrated or demolished. In a detachment of

tory.

a regiment of soldiers, discipline is more relaxed than
at head-quarters ; and this may have been the case,
when monks were quartered at some remote place,
beyond the reach of the abbot's eye, or the public
opinion of their brethren. But for the dealings of
the wealthier communities with smaller monasteries
of an independent foundation we cannot advance the
same apology. We must attribute to other motives,
their purchase of the small monasteries, when the
necessities of the inmates compelled them to sell their
property cheap to purchasers, who held over them a
threat of prosecution or of exposure for offences, which
might, if proved, lead to their confiscation. What-
ever the motives, the result was the same. Monastic
property was brought into the market ; among the
buyers and sellers were the monks themselves.

There was not, at this period, that extreme reverence
for consecrated buildings which is at present peculiar
to England. A house dedicated to God was open to any
purpose by which God's glory might be promoted,—
for schools, for public councils, for convocations, for
parliaments, even for the religious drama. Never-
theless, common sense would suggest the prescription of
certain limits, which good taste, — the instinct of correct
feeling, — would prevent us from transgressing. At all
events, an ex post facto judgment would pronounce
upon the bad policy, if we call it by no other name,
of habituating the public eye to gaze without winking,
on dilapidated churches converted by monks themselves
into Benedictine barns or Cistercian sheep-folds.

There was a general impression, that the monastic
institute had done its work. The ascetic preferred his

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 69

solitary hermitage, to va cell "where he might be dis- CHAP.
turbed by indevout reyelry, in the vicinity. The en- _— J-^

J » - J

thusiast denounced the somnolent decorum of the best In^uc
regulated monasteries. With closed doors he was
studying AVielif's Bible : he whispered, that "stolen
waters were sweet, and that bread eaten in secret is
pleasant;'5 and as his ancestor drew his sword in the
crusades, so was he ready to do battle against the
papist. The student was at the university. The art
of printing had placed in his hands the books which, at
one time, could only be found in the monastic library.
The traveller passed by the abbey, that he might take
his ease at his inn. The lord abbot and the superior
monks were in the position of a provincial aristocracy,
and were disliked by the less refined nobles ; the
inferior monks were not to be distinguished from the
farmers in the market-place ; the land in mortmain,
carelessly farmed, was less productive, than the mer-
chant adventurer, now become a country gentleman,
opined that, if in his hands, he could make it. The
profligate man of the world suspected evil in the con-
vent, and exaggerated it, if detected ; because, in the
evil doings of the monks, he thought to palliate his
own misdeeds. The monasteries sutfered in repute by
the very charity they displayed in the civil wars.
They received, pitied, and entertained the wean- and
the wounded among the combatants on either side ;
when a soldier wanted a meal he knew where to find it.
But this led to much rioting and wantonness : soldiers,
without discipline, associated with monks, at a time
when monastic discipline could not be enforced. The
monks were corrupted and the soldiers not reformed ; the
question arose whether monasteries were now answering
the purpose for which they had been designed.

The monasteries had done nothing to retrieve their

70 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, character. At one period, we find our kings and pre-
_1_ lates having recourse to the monasteries, for the supply

ln w°iyUC" °f men> whenever the services of a statesman, a lawyer,
or a divine were required for a special or a delicate duty.
The monasteries had been the nurseries of all that was
great and good for Church and State ; but it is a remark-
able fact that, for a long period before the final dissolu-
tion of monasteries in England, these institutions had
scarcely produced any personage eminent, either as an
ecclesiastic, a scholar, or a statesman. The secular
clergy maintained their position throughout the reign of
Henry VII. ; and with Wolsey at their head, during
the early part of his son's reign. The regulars had
forfeited the respect and esteem of the public.

The public opinion was expressed by Hugh Oldham,
bishop of Exeter. When Eichard Fox, bishop of
Winchester, had determined upon the erection of Cor-
pus Christi College at Oxford, his intention at first was
to make it a monastery — a school to be conducted by
the religious. He was dissuaded by Oldham., who said,
" What, my Lord, shall we, the secular clergy, build
houses and provide livelihoods for a company of buzzing
monks, whose end and fall we ourselves may live to
see \ No, no ; it is more meet a great deal, that we
should have care to provide for the exercise of learn-
ing, and for such as by their learning shall do good
to the Church and commonwealth." One of the reasons
given by Wolsey for the diversion of monastic property
from the support of convents was, that the prejudice
was so great against placing more land in mortmain,
that to obtain new endowments would be impossible.
This brings us on to the remark, that the monasteries

* Holinshed, iii, 117. Bishop Oldham was a native of Man-
chester. This was said as early -as the year 1518.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. / I

had no one to defend their cause ; every man's hand was CHAP.
against them. They had hitherto, under all their diffi-
culties and dangers, relied for protection and support
upon the pope ; but in Cromwell's time, to utter the
pope's name, except to anathematize it ; or indeed to
style the pope anything but Bishop of Eome, would
subjected the offender to a prosecution which
might end in proving him guilty of high treason. The
king now claimed to be their visitor ; and from his
decision there could be no appeal.

The bishops and parochial clergy were not likely to
take the part of monks or monasteries. Between the
clergy and the monks there had never been a good
understanding. We might as well expect the bishops
and clergy of the present day to undertake the deiV-n<-<
of the Nonconfonr. • suppose, as some persons do,

that the bishops and clergy of the sixteenth century
would plead the cause of the monks. Scarcely a v
was utteivd in their favour by any of the clergy. To

•nipt themselves from episcopal jurisdiction had been,
for many years, the object of ambition to the mon;
teries. for which they wasted much of the money, the
energy, and the time, that might have been more
profitably employed. A kind of chronic eontrov.
had long existed between the seculars and the regular
and if active hostility had of late years ceased, r
altered feeling only went so far as to prevent the

ulars from taking an active part in the proceedin
inst the monasteries ; on the dissolution of which
they looked with feelings of indifference.

The apathy evinced 1 >y the abbots is, however, m
surprising, and remains to be accounted for. Witli
very few brilliant exceptions, they yielded without i

Reynolds's Historical Essay, c. iii. for some proceedings
of the secular clergy against the regular.

72 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, sistance, almost without a murmur, to the pressure of
_ ', _ the times. This is the more remarkable, when we bear

Into°yUC" in mmd that the abbots were largely represented in
the House of Peers, and many of them sat with the
bishops as spiritual lords, forming a majority of the
Upper House.

The condition of the monasteries and the policy of
the Government must be taken into consideration.

The truth is, that in the fifteenth and sixteenth cen-
turies the leading men in the monastic establishments
were not reclining on a bed of roses ; they were not
enjoying that luxurious ease which is presented to the
readers of historical romances in the nineteenth century.
We have remarked, that, during this period, we seldom
find the English monks engaged as heretofore, in the
public affairs of the country ; they were too much
occupied with the intricate but petty business of
their respective establishments. That the heads of
the larger monasteries were successful in sustaining a
moral tone in their houses, we have the positive asser-
tion of parliament, opposed to the ipse dixit of King
Henry VIII, who coincided in the judgment of his
parliament, until it became his interest to make the
opposite statement. It could have been no easy task,
and it required considerable ability, to keep anything
like discipline and order in monasteries, which had
become such as we have represented them during the
Wars of the Roses. We may here add, that the corrupt-
ing; influence occasioned by the admission of strangers

o •> o

to share the hospitality of monasteries, was not of
a temporary nature. In the very constitution of a
monastery, there was an arrangement which rendered
discipline difficult, when piety ceased to be an en-
thusiasm and was only partially a principle. There
were many who, not monks themselves, claimed an

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 73

interest in the endowments, the nature of whose claim CHAP.
was not very clearly defined. The representatives of — \ —
a founder's family retained the right of granting ^ory!*0
corrodies, a privilege of nominating a certain number
of persons, younger brothers, or decayed servants, who
were billeted upon the house. The head of the family
required frequent donations to secure his interest at
court ; the younger brothers, having failed in court
and camp, presented themselves daily hi tin- hall; they
demanded the best cheer, and, under the sweet-smell-
ing savour of the repast, the monks themselves were
tempted to become epicures. If the abbot did not
control the licence which ensued, the monastery was
noted as corrupt ; if he exerted himself to restore dis-
cipline, he raised a faction against himself ; and his
enemies were ready to represent him as guilty of the
very vicea which lit- had sought to repress. In most
monasteries there arose two sets : what would now be
called " the fast set,7' would bring against the strici
the accusation, so easy to make, and so difficult to dis-
prove, of hypocrisy ; the strict set would retaliate by
indisputable facts charged upon their opponents; and
afterwards, by setting one faction against another, the
emissaries of Cruniwell were able to make out their
and to involve the whole body in the disgrace,
which literally attached to only a few of its members.
For the preservation of discipline a corrody was fre-
quently commuted for a money payment. Where the
monastery had the honour of having a royal foun-
dation, the king would forget the number of corrodies
he had a right to grant ; and it was not for the loyal
monks to resist or to set limits to the royal will.
Among the State Papers we find the grant of some
corrodies which evince recklessness on the part of the
crown in yielding to the petition of courtiers and the

74 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, hangers-on of a court. Complaint could not be made
when a large sum was demanded to support a student
in one of the universities ; and the monastery of St.
Frideswide may have felt itself honoured, when it was
directed to contribute towards the education at Oxford,
of a royal youth of great promise, — Eeginald Pole.
But murmurs were assuredly whispered when corrodies
were granted under the Privy Seal to Yeoman Ushers
of the Wardrobe and the Chambers ; to secretaries of the
queen, and to Clerks of the Sewers. The table kept
at the monasteries was not always so splendid as that
which presents itself to modern imagination. The
funds of a monastery were eked out by taking boarders.
Some monasteries became large boarding houses ; and
discretion was required in the selection of a temporary
domicile in one of these houses. Andrew Ammonius, in
writing to Erasmus, states that the monastery in which
he was himself lodged was crammed, and that they kept
a poor table. He remarked, that there was a college
of certain doctors near St. Paul's, who lived comfort-
ably, but it was a stinking place. He thought that
there were no Augustinians with whom Erasmus could
chamber, and the Franciscans were wretchedly poor/""

The poverty of many monasteries, through the
mismanagement of their property, was one of the
complaints brought against them. If their property
was well managed, it was said, they would have plenty
themselves, and, at the same time, enough for the king.
How to meet the heavy demands upon them, however
inadequately, must have been a cause of much anxiety
to heads of houses and their bursars.

There was scarcely a monastery, at this time, which
was not involved in debt. This appears from the

' * State Papers. See especially Nos. 1235, 1360, 4190, 930, 60,
106, 5198.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. V 5

statements made in contemporary letters bearing upon CHAP.
the subject of the monasteries. When living to the — - —
full extent of their incomes, the monks would be In^uc
thrown into consternation by a sudden demand from
the king, not only for the subsidy which they were pre-
pared to pay. but for a benevolence. Whatever was the
condition of the conventual treasury this demand was
to be met at once. The house might probably be, at
the same time, involved in a lawsuit ; and, wit!
many claims upon them, lawsuits could hardly be
avoided. Lawless neighbours would occasionally render
an application for the royal protection necessary. Such
11 could not be obtained without a bribe to the
courtiers and a douceur to the king. Other circum-
stances were continually occurring, implying an
expenditure which it was impossible antecedently t.>
calculate. These demands and expenses could only !»•
met or defrayed by incurring a debt. There v
times when money could only be borrowed at a rate
of .30 per cent, interest

AYe are not surprised, therefore, at the result to which
allusion has just been made ; that there was scarcely a
monastery in England that was not involved in »1
There were instances in which the creditors took posses-

ii of the monastic buildings, and, having ousted the
monks, resided in them with their wives and children.

Such was the condition of the monasteries, when to
th' and the superior monks the offer was made

the Government of a handsome pension, on con-
dition of their surrendering their establishments into
the hands of the king. Most liberal pensions were
offered, and all accounts agree in stating, that they
wcre regularly and scrupulously paid. The debt was
like a millstone round the neck of the abbot. When
almost in despair, he saw no way of extricating himself

"76 LIVES OF THE

or the establishment, ease and comparative wealth were
offered to him. He would lose the importance attached
to high station ; but he would find a compensation in
his freedom from care. If we add, that the pensions
were granted subject to the condition of its termination
when the pensioner obtained any ecclesiastical prefer-
ment of proportionate value, we have in the two facts a
proof, that either the Government was extremely corrupt,
or, that the charges brought against the monasteries
were greatly exaggerated. The policy of the Govern-
ment did not end here : it extended to the appoint-
ment of abbots known to be subservient to the king.
The abbots were nominated by the king ; and the
later appointments were made with the understand-
ing, that, when the king attacked their establishments,
they were at once to capitulate, and accept a pen-
sion such as a generous sovereign was sure to concede
to the friends who served him faithfully.

This was the state of things, when an attack upon
the monasteries was finally resolved upon. In the
year 1535, Thomas Crumwell having been appointed
vicar-general of the king,* was authorized, in the king's
name, to hold a visitation of the monasteries, with
liberty to appoint assistant-commissioners or deputies.
Although Crumwell proceeded, at first, with caution,
and evinced considerable discretion in the measures
he proposed ; yet we may date, from this time, the
commencement of that reign of terror which lasted
throughout his entire administration. What was
at first proposed met with general acquiescence, if
not with approbation. It was the suggestion of a
measure very similar to that which was effected by

* He was also called Lord Vicegerent. Collier shows from his
commission that these are only two names to describe the same,
thing, and not two distinct offices. Vol. iv. 296.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 77

Sir Kobert Peel, with reference to the estates attached
to the prebendaries of our cathedrals and the capitular
bodies. Where monasteries had. in the lapse of ages,
become useless to the ends, for the furtherance of
which they were endowed, they were to be disincor-
porated and dissolved. Where the estates had been
:oo favourable to the tenant, they were to
be subjected to certain regulations: which, without
injury to the convent, would be productive of a sur-
plus applicable to other religious and public obje<

The visitation commenced in the October of 1535.
B ral religious houses immediately surrendered. "\\ e
may presume, that these were the monasteries which
had become notorious for that immorality and pro-
fligacy which the visitors predicated of the whole
cla-

* The Report was made to Parliament in what was called the
Black Book, and is said to have horrified the hearers. This report
has not been preserved, or has not been discovered. We are there-
fore dependent for our information on the subject of the dissolution
of the monasteries, on two series of letters. The Camden Society
published, under the editorship of Mr. Wright, " Three Chapters of
:s relating to the Suppression of Monasteries." They have
been printed from a volume in the Cottonian Library in the British
Museum (MS. < '...tton. Cleopatra E. IV.), composed of letters and
documents which appear to the editor to have been selected from
the C rum well Papers so long preserved in the Chapter House of
:iiinster, and now lodged in the Record Office. He has added
a few documents from other collections in our national repository,
and more especially from the Scudamore Papers. The other series
of letters are published by Sir Henry Ellis in his "Original Letters
illustrative of English History." An advocate on either side might
establish his case by attending to one of these series of letters to
the exclusion of the other, and this has been too often the case.
The series of letters first mentioned are, in fact, the private reports,
made from time to time, by the commissioners in the employment
of CrumwelL They knew what was expected at their hands ; and
that they did not deceive the expectations of their employer we infer

LIVES OF THE

Introduc-
tory.

The commissioners were ready with their report
when parliament met in the following February. The

from certain documents which have lately been discovered in the
Record Office. In 1536, a commission was issued to certain country
gentlemen, in conjunction with nominees of the court, and they were
required to report on the condition of the smaller monasteries. The
reports from the three counties of Leicester, "Warwick, and Eutland
are the reports which have been lately brought to light. These com-
missioners enter fully into a detailed statement, both of the state of
each monastery they visited, and of the character sustained by its
members, including servants and pensioners. We find that almost
all were in debt, that in many the houses were ruinous, that in
some the inmates were desirous of being secularized ; but out of
nineteen houses visited there is only one in which these country'
gentlemen, assisted by the nominees of the court, found the
existence of any moral delinquency. "We ought, certainly, to take
this into account, when we consider the subject, and we cannot fail
to be suspicious of unfair play, when we find this commission
dropped ; and commissioners appointed, of whom we must say that
there seems to be no one of a serious and religious turn of mind,
while charges of immorality were brought against aD, and in one
case fully established. Although it cannot be proved that Dr.
London violated the nuns at Godstowe, although he was, probably,
not guilty of this offence, yet such a report coidd be believed of
him ; and it is certain that he was afterwards obliged to do open
penance for an incestuous connexion; that he was convicted of
perjury ; that he was condemned to ride with his face to the horse's
tail at Windsor and at Ockingham. No one was more zealous than
he, in punishing the suspected monks by turning them adrift into
the world, seizing their houses, and confiscating their property.
The correspondence of Legh and Layton bears out the charge
brought against them by the Pilgrimage of Grace, when the king
was petitioned to prosecute them and the other visitors or in-
quisitors for bribery and extortion and other abominable acts. We
are not on this account, to reject their reports as entirely untrue ;
but we are inclined to attach more weight to the letters in Sir
Henry Ellis's series, which were written by men of higher position
in society and of better character, and these letters are generally
favourable to the monasteries. We must add that even Crumwell's
commissioners made strong appeals in favour of some monasteries,
and were rebuked. Henry himself accused them of being bribed,

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 79

principal act of the session was an act grounded on the CHAP.
report. The preamble is important, as showing what _J^_
the impression which the king and his minister introduc
t this time, to make on the public mind. It
iiat manifest sin, vicious, carnal, and abomi-
nable living, was daily used and commonly committed
in the religious houses of monks and nuns, when the
congregation of such religious persons was under the
number of : and that the property, goods,

and chattels «>f such houses were spoilt, destro;
consumed, and utterly wasted. It is observed that,
although these houses had been subjected to con-
tinual visitations for the space of two hundred years
and nioi there was little or no amendment.

It was thus impossible.' tu apply any remedy except
that of suj ( >n the suppression of the smaller

mo; ligious persons, their inmates, would be

committed to yrvat and I •< of

where they would be com-
pelled to live ivligiously , for the reformation of their
lives. The king solemnly returns thanks to Almiglr
1, for that, in the great and solemn rnon; >f this

I in, religion is right well kept and observed.* But
he remarks, that they were generally destitute of such
full number of religious persons as they ought to keep ;
therefore no hardship upon them to have the
monks of dissolved monasteries quartered upon them.

when they asked for mercy to be shown to the little monastery of
. against which no accusation could be substantiated. The
whole case is stated with great fairness by a Protestant writer in the
Home and Foreign Review, whose name I am not at liberty to
mention ; to whom I desire to express my obligations.

* If the king spoke truly now, he spoke falsely afterwards. If
he knew now that the larger monasteries were corrupt, then he
thanked God for what he must have believed to be the work of the
enemy of God and man.

80 LIVES OF THE

Upon this, the Lords and Commons " by a great de-
liberation" finally resolved, that all the monasteries which
not land or other hereditaments above the clear
yearly value of two hundred pounds ; with their lands
and other hereditaments and their ornaments, jewels,
goods, chattels, and debts, should be given to the king,
his heirs and assigns for ever, to do and to use therewith
of his and their own wills, to the pleasure of Almighty
God, and to the honour and profit of the realm."

For reasons already expressed, there was no oppo-
sition to this measure.* That Crumwell from the
beginning was prepared to proceed further, we may
fairly conjecture ; when we observe with what ability
and craft he made provision against certain con-
tingencies, of which he afterwards availed himself.
To the king himself it is due to observe that, from
documents which have lately been brought to light, we
are justified in crediting him with a desire, at this time,
of acting up to the spirit of the statute. Through the
surplus revenue he expected so to replenish his treasury
as not to subject his people to further taxation :
at the same time he designed to carry into effect some
public works for the benefit both of the country and
of the Church.

The king devised several projects in his mind. It
occurred to him that an increase in the episcopate was
the most proper mode of expending the surplus revenue.
For want of episcopal superintendence, the monasteries
had fallen into disrepute, and by an increase of the

A troublesome opposition might have been offered at this period
to the proposed measure ; for when this parliament, in which had
been passed so many Acts for the Reformation of the Church,
was first called, the House of Lords consisted of forty- six tem-
poral peers, two archbishops, sixteen bishops, two guardians of
spiritualties, twenty-six abbots, and two priors. Twenty-five tem-
poral peers sat for the first time.

AECHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 81

episcopate it was hoped that the discipline of the clergy
would be more efficiently increased.

There is in the Cottonian Library a list of the "Byshop- lnit™fc'
prychys to be new made;""" from which we discover,
that the project was entertained of forming episcopal
sees in Rssex and Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Buck-
inghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire, Northampton-
shire and Huntinordonshire, Middlesex, Leicestershire

O ' *

and Rutlandshire, Lancashire, Gloucestershire, Suffolk,
Staffordshire and Salop, Nottinghamshire and Derby-
shire, and lastly, Cornwall.

The project was nobly conceived, but it was very
imperfectly carried out. The income which the king
obtained from the confiscation of the monasteries was
evidently Ir.ss than Lad been expected by himself and his
minister. t Besides, Henry was, like C'atiline, if " alieni
appetens," yet "sui profusus." This has become a
proverbial expression ; but we may apply to the case
a still more homely proverb, and say, " What was got

" MS. Cotton. Cleop. E. IV. foL 304. The list is printed in
Strype, Burnet, and Collier. More credit is given to Henry than,
he deserves, for having established six new sees, Westminster in.
1540, Chester, Gloucester, and Peterborough in 1541, Oxford and
Bristol in 1542. These were old monastic establishments. Henry
seized on a portion of their property, and left but a scanty provision
for the new foundations when the monks or canons regular, were
changed into prebendaries.

t People are apt to give full rein to their imaginations as regards
the wealth of corporate bodies. Historians have repeated without
examination the statement relating to monastic property made by
Sprot, a chronicler of the time of Edward I. Wherever his state-
ment has been examined, in any detail, his inaccuracy has been dis-
covered ; and I have little doubt, that the time will soon come, when
what is said of the 28,000 knight's fees will be discarded as a fable.
This does not interfere with the fact, that so much land was held in
mortmain in the sixteenth century, that a confiscation of part of it
was a political necessity. We may applaud the act, while we con-
demn the agents, their mode of action, and their motives.

VOL. VI. G

82 LIVES OF THE

on the devil's back was soon spent under his belly,"
The income obtained from the suppression of three
IlltoryUC~ hundred and seventy-six monasteries supplying the
exchequer with a revenue of 30,000/. a year, and
100,000£. in addition, as ready money, the value of
realized property confiscated, — all this was insuffi-
cient to meet the demands of a reckless expendi-
ture, of a careless good nature, and of that which is
worse than the two daughters of the horse-leech, ever
saying, Give, give, — the gaming-table. That the stakes
were high may be gathered from one instance. It was
recounted that Jesus bells, hanging in a steeple not far
from St. Paul's, and renowned for their metal and their
tone, were lost to Sir Miles Partridge at one cast of the
royal dice.*

Crumwell had his own fortune to make, and was well
a ware, that his very existence depended upon his success-
ful management of the public finances. He could not
be contented with what the confiscation of the lesser
monasteries supplied. With the foresight and self-
possession of a powerful mind, he had already provided
against future contingencies, and was watching events.
At first, they involved him in difficulties, but to over-
come difficulties is the pastime as well as the glory of
genius.

A reaction in the public mind soon took place. The
public, high and low, had some complaint against the
monks and friars ; they felt pleasure in the prospect of
" taking down their pride;" thoughtful persons saw the
importance of diminishing their possessions, and bring-
ing some portion at least, of their estates into the market.

Stow's Survey, 351. This Sir Miles Partridge, a man whom
Strype describes as a gamester and a ruffian, perished by the hands
of justice. The property was given to the king because of the
alleged immorality of the monks.

AECHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 83

But the reform, easy and agreeable when viewed as CHAP.
a distant prospect, assumed another aspect when theory — -.—
was reduced to practice. The monastery was destroyed ; Int™.y'
and the nobleman began to inquire what provision could
be made for the younger sou, whom he had destined to
a stall in the ancestral abbey : and younger brothers, who
had there been quartered as lay members, knew not
where now to look for a dinner. While fivsh de-
mands were made upon them, heads of families found
themselves poorer ; corrodies were stopped, and with
them the means of pensioning a worn-out servant, or of
ing a tenant's son at the university. The school
1, at which the surrounding gentry had thought
to educate their boys ; and the medical adviser had
b«-en driven from the hospital where the sick had
received medicine and advice. It was with sad and
sorrowing hearts, that the pious of either sex heard of
th«.- demolition of the holy and beautiful house w!
their fathers had worshipped ; and mothers were
seen weeping as they received back their unmarried
daughters from nunneries, which had been to them a
happy home. It was with feelings of indignant sym-
pathy, that the people of a district saw turned adrift
upon the world the holy women, who had been to
them sisters of mercy.

The act stipulated for pensions and preferments for
those who held high office in a monastery, but the in-
ferior members received a priest's gown and forty shil-
lings if they became seculars. Xo provision was made
for the servants, who were thus deprived of the means
of subsistence ; and we may form some notion of their
comparative numbers by remarking, that in one monas-
tery, where we find thirty monks, there were not fewer
than one hundred and forty-four servants. To these
must be added the many out-door labourers employed

G 2

84 LIVES OF THE

CHAP on the farms, and now thrown out of work. All these
were prepared to become sturdy beggars, at a time when
vagrancy was a capital crime.* They were to be joined
by others not quite incapable of action, the dependants
on the doles and alms still given at the abbey gates. I

'' The punishment for vagrancy had been sufficiently cruel in
former reigns ; but the cruelty was increased by the act of the
27th of Henry VIII. an act called the king's own act against
vagrants, "rufflers, sturdy vagabonds, and valiant beggars," after
such time as any of them had been once whipped, and sent to any
place, " if they shall happen to wander, loiter, or idly use them-
selves, and play the vagabonds, or willingly absent themselves from
labour they have been appointed to," might be sentenced by a
justice of the peace, not only to be whipped again, but also to
have " the upper part of the gristle of his right ear clean cut off, so
that it may appear for a perpetual token after that time, that he
hath been a contemner of the good order of the commonwealth."
Constables and the most substantial inhabitants of every parish
were to forfeit five marks for every time they refused, when ordered
to whip, or cut off the gristle of an ear. For the third act of
vagrancy committed by one " the gristle of whose ear had been cut
off clean," the punishment was death as a felon and enemy of the
commomv ealth ; and, in order not to lose a chance of profit, how-
ever remote, the pauper was condemned to "forfeit all his lands and
goods." — Amos, 85. By a statute passed in the 22d year of this king
" licences were grantable for begging within limits, with a provision
" that if any such impotent person do beg within any other place than
within such limits, then the justices, king's officers, and ministers,
shall, at their discretions, punish all such persons by imprisonment in
the stocks by the space of two days and two nights, giving them only
bread and water." Impotent persons begging, without a licence,
were to be " stripped naked from the middle upwards," and to be
scourged. " Men or women, being whole and mighty in body," who
were found vagrant, were subject " to be had to the next market
town, and there to be tied to the end of a cart, naked, and to be
beaten with whips throughout the same town till his body be
bloody by reason of such whipping." — Amos, 84. The age was
cruel ; and this should be borne in mind when we read of the little
compunction with which victim after victim was sent to the block,
whether offending politically or as religionists, or as having incurred
the king's displeasure.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 85

am aware that, passing from one extreme to another, CHAP.
modern historians treat as mythical the stories told of . — J —
the charity displayed by the monks. But it is scarcely rn*r00^ur
possible for a large establishment, conducted by Chris-
tian men or women, to exist, without an exhibition of
charity to various hangers-on ; and this must have
been particularly the case in establishments, where the
cultivation of an eleemosynary spirit was encouraged as
a merit.

All these circumstances combined to induce a re-
action in the public mind, and this reaction was proved
by two formidable insurrections. The first broke out
at Louth, in Lincolnshire, on the 2d of October,
1536. It was headed by the Prior of Barlings, Dr.
Mackerel, Bishop of Chalcedon, in partibus, in con-
junction with another leader, who assumed the name
of Captain Cobler. The second, of a more formidable
character, broke out early in 1537, in Cumberland,
and directed by Robert Aske, of Howden in York-
shire, is known in history and in poetry, as ft the Pil-
grimage of Grace." "We see from the correspondence
of Henry in the State Papers, how alarmed the Go-
vernment was at this crisis ; how vigorous and self-
possessed the king was ; and how, as usual, the insur-
gents, under the marvellous influence of that spirit of
loyalty, which seems to be characteristic of Englishmen,
abstained from censuring the king, while they vowed
vengeance against his ministers.

The reader is aware, that these insurrections were
quelled not by force of arms, but by diplomacy — in
plain English, the victory was won not by fighting but
by lying. The insurgents in Lincolnshire were dis-
armed by an amnesty, which the king broke ; and the
insurgents in the north were dispersed by promises
which the king neither kept nor designed to keep. "We

86 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, gather from the State Papers, that Henry had been
— ^_ alarmed. He had acted with firmness and prompti-

1 -f 1 i x

"torv!" tude, and was triumphant. He retired from the con-
test an impassioned man ; and neither he nor his
minister was likely to overlook the fact, that by no-
thing are the hands of a Government so much strength-
ened as by unsuccessful resistance. Henry now lent a
ready ear to the suggestion of Crumwell, that his
throne would not be secure so long as a single monastic
establishment remained in the land. The monasteries,
it was urged, stood opposed to the king ; they were a
burden to the Church; they were an expense to the
country, and they owed allegiance neither to the king
nor yet to the Church, but only to that foreign prince
and potentate, the Bishop of Rome. And then came, as
a climax, the strongest of the strong arguments to be
addressed to the royal mind — money was wanted. The
insurrection was not quelled without expense ; the
treasures accumulated from the confiscation of the pro-
perty of the lesser monasteries had been consumed : of
one thing only the people were impatient, and that was
taxation. The property of the larger monasteries must
be confiscated to the service of the crown. But there
was a lion in the path. By the three estates of the realm
it had been solemnly declared and proclaimed that in the
larger houses "religion was well kept and observed;"
and, in the fervour of his piety, the king had given God
thanks for the fact.

The great statesman was equal to the crisis ; he had
foreseen and provided for the coming events. All
things were ready, so far as he was concerned, to com-
pel the abbots, by weapons, if not carnal, yet certainly
not hallowed, to a voluntary surrender of their estates
and property. The acts of parliament already ob-
tained had a deeper meaning than those, who passed

Introdn'
torv*.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY.

them, had suspected. They had been so framed as to arm <'HA:
the Executive with despotic power. It only remained
now, to conciliate or to terrify the different parties in the
state, if not into co-operation, at least into submission.
The king, — Cruniwell knew how to manage him. " They
that rule about the king, " said the people, and they spoke
the truth, "make him great banquets and give him
sweet wines, and make him drunk ; and then they bring
him bills, and he putteth his sign to them, whereby they
do what they wish, and no man may correct them."
Crumwell supplied the king with the means of indulging
his taste and appetites ; and, so long as he did this, and
the people were kept in subjection, he might rule in
tlie king's name ;* when he failed to do this, his admini-
stration came to an end, and with his administration,
his life.

The nobility ami gentry were to be propitiated :
the first 1 >y grants from the crown out of the spoils of
the monasteries ; " the merchant adventurers" and gen-
try, by being permitted to purchase land on favourable
terms. Opponents were thus adroitly converted into
allies.

Parliament was to be won not merely by that system

of " packing" the House of Commons, of which we hav<>

i'al instances in the letters of the period ; but by the

rumours spread of a threatened invasion. It was re-

* "We see from the State Papers, that, either from a sense of duty
or from a love of business, Henry always attended to such details
of business as it was necessary to bring before him : but, more than
any of his contemporaries, he yielded himself to the guidance of
his ministers. For the glories of his reign he was indebted to that
consummate statesman, Cardinal Wolsey ; for the commencement of
the Eeformation he was indebted to CrumwelL After Crumwell's
death, there was no minister in whom he could place confidence.
He was in fact his own minister, and under difficult circumstances
he then showed himself a statesman of no mean ability.

88 LIVES OF THE

ported, that Cardinal Pole was exciting a crusade against
England, and that already a league against Henry had
Into?yUC~ been f°rme(l by the Emperor and the French king.
The thought of an insult offered to this country by
France always fired the blood of Englishmen ; and
there was not a man in the country who would not
have aided the king if he were to buckle on his armour
for a French war ; but where was the money to come
from ? A dread of imposing a tax, or raising a sub-
sidy, was the besetting sin of the Parliament men of
that age ; and, instead of seeing how power went with
the purseholder, they preferred an economical despotism
to the purchase of their liberties by making the sove-
reign a pensioner of his Parliament. They again looked
to the monasteries.

The insurrections had excited feelings of alarm in
the breasts of that large body of peaceful subjects, who
for the sake of a quiet life, would submit, readily, to a
despotism like that of the Tudors ; which was chiefly
felt as an oppression to those who made themselves
prominent either in religion or in politics. They
form the great bulk of a nation, and, generally speak-
ing, they would rather bear the ills they know, than
fly to others that they know not of. In the days of
which we are speaking, an insurrection was a more
serious thing than it is even now. On either side,
the belligerents would require free quarters; they de-
manded everything and paid for nothing ; if the rebels
could not force a man to take up arms with them, the
king's generals might press him into the royal army.
The War ol the Eoses was the bugbear of the age ; to
prevent a repetition of such a calamity the country
was willing to permit the king to exercise despotic
power, so long as he adhered to those forms of consti-
tution, an attachment to which has been almost a

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 89

superstition among the English.* Many lamented CHAP.
the dissolution of the monasteries : we have letters _-J^
which show how grieved they often were at witnessing In^oduc-
their spoliation ; at the same time, they would not move
a finger to prevent the king from taking possession of
property, which had been voted to him by parliament.
AVhen the country was in this position, Cruniwell
placed himself at the head of the reforming party.
He was certainly not a Protestant, so far as doctrine
oncerned. In his last speech, after his condem-
nation, he professed opinions directly repugnant to what
•-.t that time regarded as Protestantism. He is
generally supposed to have been a man of no religion
— a kind of religious tradesman, who supported the
party from which he could gain most ; or a stnu-sman
to whom religion was a branch of politics, t But the

* The Tudor Dynasty was not so firmly seated on the throne, as
to permit Henry VIIL to set at nought the feelings of the people.
The King of Spain, under an apprehension that Henry's succession
to the throne would "be disputed, placed the Spanish army at his
disposal, and offered to head it. It is important to note this, be-
cause it enables us to understand why Henry was so careful to
obtain an apparent legal sanction for his most despotic acts ; and
why also he prefixed long, elaborate, and often false preambles, ex-
planatory of his intentions and conduct, to the bills he caused to
be introduced into Parliament.

t In Cavendish's Life of Wolsey, he speaks of Crumwell at the
time of his master's fall. " It chanced me upon All Allowne day
to come into the great chamber at Asher, where I found Mr.
Crumwell leaning on the great window with a primer in his hand,
saying Our Lady Matins — ichich had been a strange fight in him
afore." He was not wont to have recourse to his devotions ; and
now when he " thought he was like to lose all he had laboured for
all the days of his life," as a rare thing, he thought of prayer, and
was saying " Our Lady Matins." This his admirers have striven
to explain away, by altering the text ; but Mr. Maitland remarks ;
"that Crumwell before that time avowed infidel principles is beyond
a doubt.'1

90 LIVES OF THE

AP. extreme reformers rallied round him ; and moderate re-
formers felt that they could not do without him. From
tneir letters we gather, that moderate reformers feared
rather than loved him, although almost every one was
under some obligation to him. To his supporters he was
wisely generous, and when they supported him in his
schemes of plunder they were sure to have a fair share
of the spoil. During the reign of Henry VIII. neither
Cranmer nor those who acted with him professed to be
Protestants, whether we apply the term to Lutherans
or to Zuinglians. They watched with interest the
Protestant movement on the Continent; and sup-
ported the minister, who warned the king that, if
he intended the Reformation of the Church to be
complete, his reform must extend from discipline to
doctrine. Of the pusillanimity of Cranmer in yield-
ing to the insolence of Crumwell, and in not resenting
the insults offered to his office, we shall have to speak
hereafter. Cranmer was evidently willing to concede
much, under the conviction that Crumwell was a
sincere reformer. Crumwell, like Cranmer, under the
fear of death repudiated the doctrines which he had
previously patronized ; but, unlike Cranmer, he did not,
when death was certain, recant his recantation.

While Crumwell overruled the Reformers at home,
he sought to extend his influence yet further ; and in
foreign politics he took the line directly opposite to
that which had been pursued by his master, Wolsey.
Wolsey deferred to the pope ; Crumwell was willing to
make common cause with the Protestants of Germany.
Whenever a German or Swiss Protestant visited Eng-

land, he found a friend and protector in Crumwell.
But after all, he had only one object in view, — to
enrich himself and his royal master by the entire
confiscation of the monastic property ; when that was

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 91

accomplished, he quietly acquiesced in the Act of the CHAP.
Articles. The measures to which he had recourse — L.
to intimidate the monks and their supporters were,
some of them legitimate, while others were most in-
iquitous. He acted wisely and well, when he en-
couraged learned foreigners to visit England and enter
into discussion with our own divines on the conrro-
f the day. He acted still better, when he
persuaded the king to extend his patronage to those
who had devoted their minds to the translation of the
Scriptures into the vulgar tongue ; and to permit
throughout his dominions a free circulation of the
red volume.* He wielded the lawful weapons of

* This may be a convenient place to make some remarks upon
a subject upon which much idle declamation has been wasted, and
to point out the different feelings with which a free circulation of

:pture has been regarded by men, who differing from one another
on this and other important subjects, may fairly entertain their
different opinions without being subjected to personal abuse. The
study of Scripture, as a book of devotion, was encouraged, as
have had frequent occasion to show, in all ages of the Church
all classes of divines. • From the time of Alfred, translations were
made from time to time for the edification of those, who were unable
to read their Bibles in the original. When Wiclif appeared he

..-lated the Vulgate, and would probably have been unmolested
in his holy work, if he had not proclaimed his object. The Church
currupt. It was to be brought to the test of Scripture ; •' to
the law and to the testimony." If the Church's teaching was not con-
firmed and corroborated by Scripture, the Church was in error, and
required Reformation. He circulated the Scriptures, therefore, with
the avowed purpose of making every one a reformer, and his version

- eagerly sought by those who wished to bring an accusation
against the Church, and to cause an ecclesiastical revolution. The
heads of the Church may have been in error, when they opposed
the circulation of Scripture for this purpose, — as a weapon of
offence — but they do not deserve the hard names sometimes heaped
upon them, even by those who profess to be influenced by conser-
vative feelings. Our reformers, in the sixteenth century, conceded
the fact, and admitted the trui-m, that religious knowledge, like all

LIVES OF THE

introduc-

tory.

controversy in the cause of sincerity and truth, when
he exposed to the public gaze the impostures which
jia(j j^^ fae disgrace of too many monasteries. He

exhibited to the astonished multitude, the strings and
wires and pulleys by which the image, too long wor-
shipped by an idolatrous people, was made to open its
eyes, to move its lips, to expand its mouth, and to per-
form other grimaces indicative of approbation when a
wealthy ignoramus made an offering of jewels or of
gold. He did what was right when he condemned the
inanimate heretic to the flames. He placed in men's
hands the crystal phial containing the blood, as it was
said, of a saint ; which became visible to the money-
giving, and invisible to the niggardly beholder ; he
showed how it was opaque on the one side, and
transparent on the other, and he dashed the lying
relic to the ground. Men are never more indignant,
than when they find that they have been subjected to
delusion, and when by impious men, their holiest
feelings have been trifled with.

These tricks were played upon pilgrims by the

knowledge, is transmissive. They received it as a tradition, — but
then they desired to place the Bible in every man's hands, as the only
safeguard for preventing the Church from transmitting as an article
of faith what has never been revealed as such. The Church comes to
us, as St. Paul to the Bereans, and says, These things are so. We
accept what is handed down to us ; and then, admitting it to be
probable, that those who have no object in deceiving us, have told
us the truth, we do, as the noble Bereans did, we search the
Scripture to see whether these things be so. The notion of making a
religion each man for himself out of the Bible is a modern notion, and
must stand for what it is worth. As the subject will frequently come
before us, the reader will probably agree with the author in think-
ing the protestant system the right one ; but it does not follow,
that those who, at a revolutionary period, took another view of the
subject are deserving of the hard terms which Foxe and his
admirers heap upon them.

AECHB1SHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 93

lowest class of persons in the monasteries, and were
laughed at by some at the head of affairs. The
indignation of all classes was directed against the Introdu<>

tory.

abbots and priors, who having the power to put them
down, had abstained from using it. So for they de-
served their fate. They confounded credulity with
faith, and forgot who is the father of lies.

It is with mitigated feelings of disgust, that we
approach the shrines where were exhibited the relics,
real or imaginary, of holy men of old. Men like
Erasmus may have laughed ; men like Colet may have
sighed, as they gazed at the wasted treasures of a be-
jewelled shrine ; but here there was not of necessity,
as in the former case, conscious deceit on the part of
the exhibitor. The deceivers were themselves often
deceived ; and even when miracles appeared to be
wrought, we know the power of the imagination too
well, not to believe that cures were effected where cures
weiv expected. But whatever may be said in pallia-
tion of the offence, the offence, in conjunction with
other iniquities, was sufficient to create a vast number
of conscientious iconoclasts. Their feelings were still
further excited, when they compared the second com-
mandment as taught in the Church, with the same
commandment when printed in their Bibles. When
the mysteries of the convent became revelations of its
hidden pollutions, the doom of the monasteries was
sealed.

Had Crumwell been contented with the legitimate
modes of party warfare, he would have deserved only
the gratitude of posterity. The exposure of a lie is a
victory on the side of truth. But in his zeal to create a
public opinion against the monasteries, he resorted to
measures which, if they are regarded with feelings of ap-
probation by any, must be so only by the mere partizans

1)4 LIVES OF THE

of religion, and not by persons, under the influence of
a religion the characteristic virtue of which is charity.

A partizan of Protestantism was Foxe, the martyr-
ologist. Describing Crumwell as a valiant soldier and
captain of Christ, he informs us, that he had in his pay
and kept near him " divers fresh and quick wits, by
whose industry " (pious or profane, as the reader may
think fit to regard it) the country was inundated
"with pictures, jests, songs, interludes ;" of which some
remain to exhibit to us what he regarded as wit ; and
how wit might, in his estimation, be made subservient
to religion, or at least to the propagation of what he
regarded as such.

The stage plays and interludes, says Bishop Burnet,
were acted, and the churches were too often the
theatres. With a view of interesting men in the
history of the Bible, sacred dramas had, in times
past, been performed in consecrated buildings ; and,
following this precedent, the buffoon, who formerly
appeared as the arch enemy of man, amused the popu-
lace by his representation of a profligate monk or
by the exhibition of such indecencies as convulsed the
assembly with malignant laughter. Perhaps another
place might have been more appropriately selected,
when, advancing from men to things, the ordinances
of the Church were burlesqued and things most
sacred were turned into ridicule."5'" We have speci-
mens of what was regarded as wit ; the consecrated
oil was the Bishop of Home's butter ; the holy water was

* Burnet apologizes for mentioning what he describes as the
greatest blemish of the times ; but the sincerity of an historian, he
says, obliges him to do so. " Surely," remarks Dr. Maitland, " a
more quaint acknowledgment of party views was never made. A
man need not set up for an historian at any time, but if he does,
'the greatest blemish of that time' cannot be passed over with any
pretence to common honesty."

torv.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 95

represented as something adapted to make sauce for a CHAP.

goose, or as medicine for a horse with a galled back ; J —

the tonsure was a mark of the whore of Babylon ;
the stole of a priest was the Bishop of Rome's rope ;
the sacrament of the altar was called the sacrament of
the halter ; it was spoken of as Jack in the box, or the
round robin.

To the coarse ribaldry of the friars of old as directed
against the secular clergy must be traced the relish for
that whkli. whether regarded as piety or as blasphemy,
certainly repugnant to good taste and correct
feeling. It is to the credit of the clergy that, when
the weapons formerly directed against themselves were
iniw pointed against the monks, the Convocation,
through its prolocutor, remonstrated with the Govern-
ment for encouraging that which was introducing " inv-
ligion, — even atheism/' Such, however, is the obtu>e-
of religious partisanship that, instead of seeing in
the courage thus displayed in a reign of terror, something
worthy of praise, Bishop Bumet can only express his
surprise and indignation at the proceeding.*

In party warfare and in rationalistic argument,

the puritan and the infidel are sometimes found to

make common cause. It is so difficult to distinguish

' en what is to one man profane and another

ludicrous, that we are not inclined to speak with undue

i ity upon what has been just described. But we

have a sadder ink- to tell ; we have to pass from mental

excruciation to the infliction of corporal punishment.

AVe have reminded the reader of the tumults, which
had been caused by pity for the monks or by their
su< -cos in the arts of insurrection. The probability of
this had been foreseen by Crumwell. He had taken

* The reader who -would investigate this painful subject may be
referred to Dr. Maitland's Essays on the Eeformation.

96 LIVES OF THE

steps to terrify the abbots of the larger monasteries
into the surrender of their houses, treasures, and
Intorduc" estates. He had already taken steps to prevent further
insurrections in their behalf. The master stroke of his
Machiavellian policy — one of those wonderful acts of
political foresight by which provision was made for a
probable future — is to be found in the Treason Act ; an
act unostentatiously introduced as a mere rider to the
Supremacy Act.

Convocation first, and the Parliament afterwards, in
recognition of powers, from time immemorial attached
to the prerogatives of the crown, conceded to Henry the
title, — which he assumed, but which Queen Elizabeth
repudiated, — of Supreme Head of the Church. Another
bill was, towards the close of the session, introduced,
in which it was enacted, that " if any person do mali-
ciously wish, will, or desire, by words or in writing, or
by craft, imagine, invent, practise, or attempt any bodily
harm to be done or committed to the king's most royal
person, or the queen's, or their heirs apparent, or to
deprive them or any of them of their dignity, title or
name of their royal estates; or slanderously and
maliciously publish and pronounce, that the king our
sovereign lord should be heretic, schismatic, tyrant,
infidel, or usurper of the crown, every such person and
their accessories shall be judged traitors."

This was not all. If an individual were obnoxious
to the Government, if he were even accused, if he were
suspected, to him the oath of supremacy might be
tendered ; and if he refused to take it he might be
led to execution, as in the case of Sir Thomas More
and Bishop Fisher for denying the royal title.

Thus was constituted an offence hitherto unheard
of, — verbal treason; and terrible was the power with
which it invested an unscrupulous sovereign and a

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY.

yet more unscrupulous minister. Under legal forms, CHAP.
a despotism was tacitly established; some were in- — ^
terested in upholding it, no one was bold enough to InJ^n<

-t.

Armed with this authority, and with manners most
attractive, Crumwell caused his influence to be felt,
even when not acknowledged, in ever}* class of
society.* The House of Commons was led by him,
for, as we gather from his letters, by him the House was
packed. In political trials, he dictated the verdict : for
every juryman knew that if a verdict hostile to the
rnmeut should be returned, there was at the head
of that crovernment a man, who was generous when

O O

pleased, but was terrible in his anger. He exercised all
the functions, and possessed all the powers, of a modern
prime minister. He was a man of progress, who was
urging the king to adopt yet stronger measures of
reform ; and to him therefore the discontented of all
parties looked up as to a leader ; all who, having
nothing to lose, only desired a scramble, where some-
thing might be gained ; all who, in disgust at the ex-
isting state of affairs, were ready to support the most
extreme measures of reform ; all who cared little for the
building up, if they were permitted to pull down.

The immoralities of the powerful partizan of a
religious faction are, by the expectants of his favour
or the enthusiasts of his party, regarded as mere pecca-

* For the statements made with reference to Crumwell, I must
express my obligations to Professor Brewer and to Mr. Duffus Hardy.
In his preface to The Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of
the reign of Henry VIII. Mr. Brewer has constituted himself the
ian of that reign. I am indebted for much information on
the subject to an article on the Royal Supremacy, published by him
in the National Review. The whole has been authenticated by
Mr. Hardy, to whose friendly criticisms these pages were submitted
as they passed through the i :

VOL. VI. H

98 LIVES OP THE

CHAP, dillos, or are discredited as inventions of the enemy.
We are not surprised, therefore, at finding men of

Infory.UC fervent piety and of earnest religious principle at-
tributing to Crumwell, virtues which he did not
possess ; at the same time, we must admit, that he
himself did not seek through hypocrisy, the high
spiritual honours to which he attained. He was of
this world, thoroughly worldly. He simply accepted
what was thrust upon him ; and he used the almost
boundless power, which caused him to be respected,
served and feared. In every county and village,
almost in every homestead, he had a secret force
of informers and spies. They depended for all they
possessed upon the patronage of the Vicegerent, who,
— generous and despotic, — could give as well as take
away. In the enthusiasm of their selfish loyalty,
they were on the watch for traitors ; and in the well-
paid piety of their hearts, they had a terrible dread
of superstition. For a word uttered in argument, in
anger, or in jocularity, an offender might be summoned
before the magistrate and cross-examined. The ac-
cused was not permitted to see his accuser ; each
case was decided by depositions, and the depositions
were sometimes garbled. If, for no assignable cause, a
man obnoxious to the Government was accused of dis-
loyalty, and refused to acknowledge his guilt, the oath
of supremacy might be tendered to him ; and the
officer who tendered it, would advert significantly to
the fate of Sir Thomas More and Bishop Fisher. If
further proof were wanted, the house of a suspected
person might be ransacked and his papers searched.
If this did not suffice to prove his guilt, the accused
might be sent to London to be there examined ; and
that examination was sometimes conducted when the
prisoner was on the rack. Crumwell himself sometimes

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 99

superintended the torture.* When a clergyman was CHAP.

suspected, his service-book might be examined, or even !

a private manual of devotion might be searched. The In|^ltl(
object of the search was to discover whether, in
obedience to a royal injunction, he had duly erased
the name of the pope and that of St. Thomas of
Canterbury. If this had not been done, the omis-
sion was a sufficient proof of his treason ; and his life
depended upon the caprice of Crumwell, or upon the

* See particularly the case of Dr. Lush, Vicar of Aylesbury,
Ellis, 3d Series, iii. 70. At page 96 we find Robert SouthweD
writing to Crumwell, then Lord Privy Seal, signifying the attainder
of two priests for denying the king's supremacy, and humbly
praying, that a day might be fixed for their execution. In a lettc^
from Crumwell to the king, concerning an Irish monk suspected
of treasonable practices, he says, " We cannot as yet get the pith oi
his evidence, whereby I am advertised to-morrow to go to the
Tower, and see him set in the bracks, and by torment be compelled
to confess the truth." — Ellis, 2d Series, ii. 130. Sir Henry E11L-
informs us that the Brack or Brake was a species of rack. The very
instrument which Crumwell professes the intention of using, or a por-
tion of the horrid machine, was till lately to be seen in the Tower.
It is engraved on wood in the Notes to Isaac Reed's Edition oi'
Shakspeare, voL vi. p. 231. It is also mentioned by Judge Black
stone in his Commentaries, vol. iv. ch. 25 ; he says, " The trial by
rack is utterly unknown to the law of England, though once when
the Dukes of Exeter and Suffolk and other Ministers of Henry VI.
had laid a design to introduce the civil law into this kingdom as
the rule of government, for a beginning thereof they erected a rack
for torture, which was called in derision, The Duke, of Exeter's
(1fi.ii<ihter, and still remains in the Tower of London, where it was
occasionally used as an engine of State, not of law, more than
once in the reign of Elizabeth. In Mary's time it had been
frequently used.'' Among the unpublished papers of Crumwell
there are several references to the use of torture. For the state-
ments given above, the reader is referred to the " Original Letters,"
published by Sir Henry Ellis, especially to the 3d Series, except
when other authorities are quoted. Numerous letters and docu-
ments relating to this period of Henry's reign are to be found
unpublished in the Record Office.

H 2

100

LIVES OF THE

CHAP.
I.

Introduc-
tory.

cause
hanged

judicious administration of a bribe. The Franciscans
were the persons who were most zealous in favour of
the pope, and it may have been a political necessity to
apprehend two hundred of these men in one day. This
was a strong measure ; but to stronger measures the court
found it necessary to resort. Friar Forest was pro-
claimed a heretic and traitor for maintaining the
of the Bishop of Kome, and as such he was
and burnt at Smithfield. Cromwell, Lord
Privy Seal, accompanied by several of the courtiers of
Henry, attended in great state on the occasion ; and
the preacher was no less a person than the Bishop of
Worcester, Hugh Latimer.* We read of the execu-
tion, on another occasion, of eight poor men and of
two women, for offences against the act of supremacy ;
the sermon was preached by the chaplain of Hugh

* Our admiration of Bishop Latimer, who himself died bravely for
his opinions, must not make us blind to his faults. There is some-
thing offensively facetious and flippant in his letter to Crumwell, when
the latter ordered him to preach at the burning of Forest : " And Sir,
if it be your pleasure, as it is, that I shall play the fool in my customable
manner, when Forest shall suffer, I should wish that my stage stood
next unto Forest." It is due to the memory of a reformer, in
many respects so justly admired, especially for his own martyrdom,
to add that in another part of his letter he says, " If he would, in
heart, return to his abjuration, I should wish his pardon, such is
my foolishness." It was a sad time, when a bishop thought he
should be accounted a fool, for pleading the cause of an innocent
man. Much allowance must be made for the coarseness and cruelty
of the age ; but there is something revolting in the conduct of
Bishop Latimer, as narrated by Sir Thomas More, when More was
under trial for his life before Cranmer, at Lambeth. " I was in con-
clusion commanded to go down into the garden. And thereupon I
tarried in the old burned chamber that looketh into the garden, and
would not go down because of the heat. In that time saw I Master
Doctor Latimer come into the garden, and there walked he with,
divers other doctors and chaplains of my lord of Canterbury. And
very merry I saw him, for he laughed and took one or two about
the neck so handsomely, that if they had been women, I should
have went [weened] he hadd waxen wanton."

AECHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 101

Latimer, Bishop of Worcester. What was peculiarly CHAP.

hard, upon this occasion, was, the imprisonment of one ^

Denison ; he expressed his disapprobation of the sermon, J11^1110
and called the preacher of it a foolish knave priest,
" come to preach the new heresy which I set not by."
There was a poor woman of whom Sir Roger Towns-
hend writes to Cmmwell, that, " as far forth as his
conscience and perceiving could lead him," was the
originator of a report, that a miracle had been wrought
by Our Lady of Walsingham. The credulous old woman,
a few years sooner, would have been honoured as a
saint, but how she was treated in King Henry's time
shall be given in the words of Sir Roger himself : —

" I committed her to the ward of the constables of Wal-
singham. The next day after, being market day, there I
I her to be set in stocks in the morning, and about six
of the clock, when the market was fullest of people, with a
paper set about her head, written with these words upon the
same, A reporter of false tales, was set in a cart and so carried
about the market and other streets in the town, staying
at divers places where most people assembled, young people
and boys of the town casting snowballs at her. This done
and executed, was brought to the stocks again, and there set
till the market was ended. This was her penance, for I knew
no law otherwise to punish her but by discretion ; trusting it
shall be a warning to other light persons in such wise to order
themselves. Howbeit I cannot perceive, but the said image
is not yet out of some of their heads. I thought it con-
venient to advertise your Lordship of the truth of this matter,
lest the report thereof coming into many men's mouths might
be made otherwise than the truth was. Therefore I have sent
to your Lordship, by Richard Townshend, the said examina-
tion. Thus I beseech Almighty Jesu evermore to have your
good Lordship in His best preservation. Written the 20th of

January.*

Humbly at your commandment,

EOGER TOWXSHEXD.
* Ellis, 3d Series, iii. 162.

102 LIVES OF THE

CHAP. What reward Sir Roger obtained or expected for his

— X zeal, I am unable to say ; but one other case must be

J"u™v "' " mentioned, as it shows how completely the country was

at this time governed, and felt itself to be governed, by

Crumwell. He is the only minister who so completely

identified himself with the king, that calumny against

the minister was confounded, in the opinion even of

educated men, with treason against the sovereign.

J O O

The justices of Ludlow, eager to gain favour with the
all-powerful Crumwell, informed him, that they had
apprehended a priest for speaking words against Crum-
well; that they had sealed his house; they had taken pos-
session of his property ; they had made an inventory of
his goods, and had put his plate in trust for the use of
the king. They had examined his papers to discover if
there were " any untruth" to our lord the king. Although
the inquisitors failed in their search, they were not to take
all this trouble for nothing. Their expenses must be paid ;
to their delight they found a bag containing 76/. 16s. ;
they appropriated 201. as a remuneration to themselves
— a sum equivalent to about 200/. according to the
present value of money: another sum amounting to
half of this, they gave to the scrivener for endorsing
the inventory ; ten pounds were given to the fortunate
messenger who was elected to convey this message to
Crumwell.

To an Englishman, taught to regard his home as his
castle, these acts of invasion upon property appear
to be monstrous ; our blood boils within us, when we
learn, that by blending the act of supremacy with the
treason act, the Protestant enthusiasts under Crumwell
condemned to death riot fewer than fifty-nine persons,*

* I give the numbers as I find them in Dodd. A general state-
ment made by him in such a matter would be received with

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 103

• — men who, however mistaken they may have been CHAP.
in their opinions, were as honest as Latimer, and — ~
more firm than Cranmer. Of the murders of Bishop In{o^ut
Fisher and Sir Thomas More, the former the greatest
patron of learning, the latter ranking with the most
learned men that the age produced — both of them men
of undoubted piety — the reader must not expect, in these
pages, a justification or, even an attempt at palliation.
^ > -hall be as ready to accord the crown of martyrdom
to the abbots of Heading and Glastonbury, and to the
Prior of St. John's Colchester, when, rather than betray
their trust, they died, as we are to place it on the
heads of Cranmer, Eidley, and Latimer. Although the
latter had the better cause, yet we must all admit, that,
atrocious as were the proceedings under Mary and
Bonner, the persecutions under Henry and Orumwell
fill the mind with greater horror. Mary, however
narrow her mind may have been, believed that, in
sacrificing the lives of her fellow-creatures, she was
maintaining the cause of truth ; she thought that by
their suffering in this world, the sufferers might be
1 from eternal damnation. The persecutions under
Henry originated in avarice ; or in a desire to maintain
the peace of the country, to the infraction of which the
people were, at the same time, excited by lust of plunder
on the part of the king and his minister.

The violence of Crumwell was surpassed by his
venality. Whether controlling men's actions or obtain-
ing the command of their purses, his prudence and fore-
thought were equally conspicuous. The plebeian had
determined to ennoble his family ; and before he could
ask for a coronet he required the means by which to

suspicion ; but he gives a list of the names of the sufferers, and
his statement is official.

104 LIVES OF THE

support the honours of a peerage. He enabled his
creatures to enrich themselves, and they knew that
IntoryUC tney were serving themselves when they brought
grist to their patron's mill. Before Crumwell had
determined on the steps to be taken with reference
to the greater monasteries, he battened upon the
hopes and fears of all, who were dependent for
their livelihood on monastic property. Money flowed
into his coffers from all who had favours to seek
at court. The Abbess of Godstow appointed him
steward of the estates belonging to the sisterhood ;
and he was a steward from whom a strict account
would not be demanded. He had a retaining fee for the
priory of Durham ; which the prior thought it expedient
to double in order that he might secure " a continuance
of his favourable kindness." From Abbot Whiting
the great man condescends to ask for the appointment
of his nominee to be master of the game on the estates
of the abbey. This with many similar appointments
had not reference merely to field sports; Crumwell
supported his household and retainers — a vast multi-
tude— by the game he thus acquired. The abbot, more
liberal than was expected, conferred on him a corrody and
an advowson.'* The Abbess of Shaftesbury offers five
hundred marks to the king, and one hundred pounds to
my Lord Privy Seal, to be allowed to remain " under
any name or apparel" the king's bede woman, after the
surrender of her nunnery. One noble lord places 40£.
in Crumw ell's hands if he will obtain for him the grant

* A corrody, says Fuller, a corradendo, eating together, consisted
of the privilege retained by a founder, or granted to a benefactor, of
sending a certain number of persons to be boarded at an abbey. Old
servants were thus provided for; sometimes younger sons, when in-
capacitated for military service. Corrodies, in some well-regulated
monasteries, were commuted for a fixed payment.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 105

of a well-endowed monastery. In CrumwelTs private
memorandums, not yet published, there are continual
references to grants made by the king of monastic ntoryUC"
estates, through the influence of the minister, — grants
made after due consideration. Even the Bishop of
Worcester, Hugh Latimer, when induced to intercede
on behalf of the Prior of Great ^lalvern, would not
venture to approach his friend and patron without a
douceur. The prior, though in his diocese, was not of
it, — it was an exempt monastery ; but Latimer was
suitor for the " foresaid house," because the prior was
a good man, and willing to submit to the king's decree.

o * cj *— '

The good prior himself offered five hundred marks to
the king, and two hundred marks more, as an acknow-
ledo-ment of his thanks, to the Lord CrumwelL* The

O '

money was accepted ; the priory continued to exist
for a few months ; it was then dissolved.

The amount of property amassed by Crumwell, of
which we can produce the accounts, would indeed be
marvellous, even if we could not enlarge the list of
bribes of which we have attempted to give a specimen.
From a lady of rank he receives 20/., if he will obtain
for her the arrears of her salary. One of his inferior
agents applies to him to stay proceedings between one
Brooke and the Abbot of Bardney.: " Hear me speak,"
says the constable, for such was the man's ostensible
position in society, " ere you conclude, and it shall be
in the way of two hundred marks." Archbishops and
bishops found it their interest to retain him as their
advocate. From Archbishop Craamer he obtained 40 1.
a year, equivalent to 40 Ol. according to the relative

* Strype, Memorials I. i. 399, and p. 407 we find Sir Thomas
Elliot, in a sycophantic letter, promising Crumwell the first year's
fruit of any lands from suppressed monasteries granted to him by
the king through CrunnveH's intercession.

106 LIVES OF THE

value of money ; from some other bishops 201. and 10?.
by way of a new year's gift. From noblemen and
noble ladies, even from Queen Jane Seymour, from the
visitors of monasteries, and from all who looked for his
favour at court, he received certain pensions as retain-
ing fees. It might be said, that in receiving these pre-
sents, he was only doing, on a large scale, what every
man in power was accustomed to do ; this excuse, how-
ever, his conduct does not permit us to make to its full
extent; we find from the entries in his steward's books,
that money was surreptitiously conveyed to him — to be
found in a pair of white gloves — " in a handkercher"-
in a black velvet purse — in a crimson satin purse — in
white paper — " in a glove under a cushion in the middle
window under the gallery." Such secret presents, of
which we only mention a few by way of specimen,
must have been "secret-service money." They oc-
curred chiefly during that period, when to peer and
peasant the abbey lands appeared to be a mine of
wealth.

While Crumwell was enriching himself, he was, at
the same time, in his zeal against immorality, preparing
the way for the transfer of the property, so long mis-
applied by the monks, to the coffers of King Henry VIIL
He had appealed with such success, to the fears and
cupidity of the people, that when, in 1537, the visita-
tion of the greater monasteries was ordered, the com-
missioners found that, in most instances, the terrified
monks were prepared, on receiving a compensation, to
surrender their houses into the king's hands. * To avoid

* The pensions were sometimes considerable, and appear to have
"been regularly paid. The last payment to an ex-monk was made
in the reign of James I. The hardship fell chiefly upon the inferior
members of a monastery and the dependants upon the several
establishments. At Athelney, the pliant abbot received a large

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 107

the odium of confiscating by main force the property
of men, in whose favour the preceding commissioners,

the king, and the three estates of the realm had borne
t"

honourable testimony, Crumwell offered every facility
for a voluntary surrender. To make the surrender
voluntary, however, the inquisitors had recourse some-
times to measures which, though literally legal, were
intrinsically unjust ; but which, to those who are not
sufferers by the proceedings, suggest amusing ide

In most instances, the heads of houses, by bribes and
promises, or by politic appointments, were prepared to
surrender. If there was any demur, the inquisitors
added to the many difficulties in which, as we have
previously shown, the monasteries were, through debt
or discord, involved, by encouraging a factious spirit,
and inducing one party to bring railing accusation-
against the other. The testimony, on either side, wa>
:ved without question, and a general bill of in-
dictment was brought in against all. The wearied
prior was soon as ready as the terrified abbot to regard
surrender as the only means of securing peace.

But though the abbot may have been gained, there
were monks who, under the influence of conscientious
motives, or because the offers made to them on their
iarization were insufficient, exhibited signs of re-
sistance. Crumwell, though decided, was always cau-
tious ; he knew full well, that his royal master, though he
had armed himself with despotic power, was accustomed
to act the tyrant, not by defying but by perverting the
forms of law. Nothing could be more in accordance with
order, than the proceedings of the commission. The

pension and vr&s appointed to administer the estates. At Evesham,
the abbot had an annuity of 240/. and at St. Albans, 260/. These
sums must be multiplied by ten, to bring them to the present value
of monev.

108 LIVES OF THE

members of it were empowered to institute, among other
things, an inquiry as to the fact, whether the statutes
ntoiy.UC of ea°h monastery were rigidly observed; and whether
the brethren acted strictly in conformity with the will
of their founder. On their arrival at a monastery,
they were hospitably entertained by the brethren ; who
had secured, as they supposed, the favourable regards
of the vicegerent, and were aware, that they were well
spoken of in the neighbourhood. It did not, how-
ever, require much sagacity to discover that, even in
the best ordered monasteries, the Benedictine rule had
been relaxed ; and that if an attempt were, in some
places, made to observe the more stringent regulations
of the Carthusians, these formed exceptional cases, and
were of rare occurrence. Although, therefore, the
commissioners gave due weight to the favourable
report of their entertainers, they would not be con-
tented with the general respectability of the past ;
their duty it was to enforce the statutes. Obsolete
they were represented to be ; but the question was,
whether every brother had not sworn to observe
them. The services in the chapel had been blended,
so as to secure an undisturbed night's rest ; this,
it was pointed out, was an evasion of the statute ;
orders were given, that when the bell sounded in
the early hours before day dawned, each brother
should be found in his stall, prepared to take his
part in the psalmody. At an early hour in the
morning a divinity lecture was to be read ; every
inmate of the establishment was required to attend.
After this, the abbot was to see, that every oiie was
engaged in grammatical studies between the hours of
devotion, except those whose business it was to labour
in the field. The fast days were to be strictly observed ;
at meal times no attention was to be paid to the

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 109

requirements of a fastidious appetite. The simplest
fare was to be provided. "With lay brethren the monks
who were in holy orders were not allowed to hold in-
tercourse ; and if, after a silent dinner, the lay brother
thought to seek society in the neighbourhood, he found
himself a prisoner in his own house ; it was notified
to him, that it was not lawful for him to leave the pre-
cincts of the monastery without special permission; this
permission it was not easy to obtain. To middle-aged
gentlemen, accustomed to an innocent self-indulgence
— if self-indulgence can ever be innocent — the enforce-
ment of these and similar regulations was peculiarly
irksome. It was as if the prebendaries composing
the chapter of one of our cathedrals at the present
time, were compelled to resign their livings by being
called into perpetual residence ; or as if, at Cambridge,
some "mute inglorious Milton" were ordered to the
flogging form.

Among the younger men, some were found who
wished to be released from their vows, and to return to
the world. Others there were, who wept at the thought
of leaving the home in which their youth was spent
and educated, where they had whiled away their lives,
and where they had hoped to repose in old age, until
they should be laid in an honoured grave. The ma-
jority agreed that, if it were intended to enforce the
statutes, and to compel them to live as veritable
monks, it would be preferable to come to terms with
the king, and to accept the pension the visitors were
authorized to offer. With a heavy heart and an up-
oraiding conscience, many an abbot observed, that he
was required to surrender what " it was not his to
give ;'' his scruples were silenced if not satisfied by the
commissioners; the abbot, it was said, was only a tenant

110 LIVES OF THE

on the property, as the property itself had already been
given by parliament to the king.*
Intory"° We have an account of the surrender of one of
these religious houses from the pen of .Dr. Shire-
orook, a writer nearly contemporary with the events ;
he wrote in the year 1591.f Comparing his state-
ments with the letters and other documents of the.
period, we can represent to ourselves pretty accu-
rately the usual process on such occasions. Before a
surrender of the property to the king, Crumwell was
careful to make his own private profit out of the
hopes of the unfortunate monks. They paid him, from
time to time, large sums to be " good lord " to them.
Their good lord he was, until it was convenient to say,
that the king's will must be done, and he could no longer
befriend them. Another object he had in view, which
was to make the surrender appear in the eyes of the
public, a voluntary act on the part of the brethren. At
the same time, he sought to conciliate or to intimidate
the nobility and gentry of the neighbourhood. They
were permitted to make cheap purchases of land and
timber. He desired to keep the populace in good
humour ; to them the doors of the desecrated building,
were opened, and they were permitted to scramble for
what the robbers of a higher class had left.

The abbot and monks, having purchased the favour
of Crumwell, were living in security under the vain
imagination, that things would, at least, last their time.

* The letter of E. Horde, the prior of the Carthusian monastery
at Honiton, to his brother Allen, expresses the feelings of a large
portion of the heads of religious houses. It is to be found in
Ellis, 2d Series, ii. 130.

t See a transcript of a MS. in Cole's collection in the Uritish
Museum, extracts from which have been published by Sir H. Ellis.
It is attributed to Dr. Shirebrook, on the authority of Mr. Porter,
the possessor of the original MS.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. Ill

Suddenly it was announced to them, that the royal CHAP.
commissioners were at the abbey gate. The commis-
sioners were accustomed to pounce upon their prey
suddenly ; they came when they were least expected,
to render it impossible to secrete any large portion of
the property. Arrived at the gate, the representatives of
royalty demanded of the abbot and all the officer-bearers
to deliver up their keys. They proceeded at once
to business. Divided into sub-committees, they took
an inventory of all the property within the house
and in the offices without. The servants were sent
into the pastures and to the granges, and the live
stock were driven into the courtyard, — horses, cows.
sheep. The brethren were summoned to attend in
the hall, where the chief commissioner occupied tli<
abbot's chair :

" Quaxtor Minos urnam movet, ille silentum
Conciliumque vocat, vitasque et crimina discit."

The silent monks heard for the first time that the
property, formerly theirs, had been already sold.
The special business of the commissioners was, in the
king's name, to hand it over to the purchasers. An
unconscious smile must have moved the lips of the com-
missioners, when they called upon the astonished monks
to give " great thanks to the king, and to pray for him
on their black beads, since he had been so gracious to
them as to permit them to stay so long in a place, which
parliament had taken from them and conferred upon
the king." The condescending commissioners invited
the grateful monks to partake, as guests, of the enter-
tainment which, a few hours before, they had ordered as
hosts. They took their places "with what appetite they
might;" and were edified by discourses on the indulgence
shown them by the king. But equal justice required
that regard should be had to the interest of others be-

112 LIVES OF THE

sides the monks. Before they rose from the table where
they had been hospitably entertained by the king, it was
ntoryUC signified to them, that it would be for the convenience of
those who had now taken possession of the abbey, if the
former inmates could leave the house that very night.
As, according to their rule, they could possess no pro-
perty beyond what they carried on their backs, it would
not be difficult for them to find a lodging; among their

O o O

friends in the neighbourhood. A few of them, anxious
to see the last of their old home, obtained leave to re-
main in their cells for that one night longer, with the
understanding that, when the morning bell should
sound, it would not be for matins, but, simply to
signify, that the time had come " when they really
must go." It was a sight, says our informant, to melt
a heart of flint, and make it weep, to see the old men
bidding a long and final farewell to the home of their
youth ; and if there were, among the younger men,
some who rejoiced in gaining their liberty, yet even
they by their countenances showed that, if a leader
could have been found, they would have worked ven-
geance on their persecutors.

As they went out by one door, the persons em-
ployed to dismantle the house, either for the king
or for those to whom portions of the property were
already sold, entered in by another door. They seemed
to take pleasure in the work of demolition. The
boards were plucked up, the spars were hurled
down upon the floor ; the marble floor itself was
smashed by the lead poured down, through the
fretted ceiling, from the roof. The stalls where the
monks had prayed were rudely torn down ; and
the painted windows were demolished. The shrines
had been already rifled for the king ; the tombs of
the uncanonized were now thrown open to the mob. i

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 113

From the fragments of the splintered marble, the brass
rent : from the skeleton, gold or jewel was torn.
The rudeness of an hour annihilated the pious labour Jntroduc-
of ages : barbarism triumphed over superstition. The
abbot's house, the dormitories, the cloisters, the libraries
were pillaged. The vessels of silver and gold were
seized, in the king's name, by the visitors ; the timber,
the pewter, and all else that was valuable, were con-
l to the dwellings of the neighbouring yeomen
and gentry. When their servants had deposited the
purchased property in the outhouses, for this purpose
still regarded as sacred, they returned to the monas-
Au astonished multitude found the doors de-
molished, or the locks and staples destroyed ; they
were invited or permitted to rush in and lay their
hands upon whatever the royal plunderer, or the noble
robbers had left. Broken lead, the window frames,
the iron hooks which had supported the reredos or
the altar, became their prey. Too often the splendid
service books, unappreciated by their ignorant superiors
in the art of robbing, when the jewels and the gold
had been roughly torn from the boards, were seized
for the sake of the vellum, and carried home to the
housewife. The leaves were employed in scouring the
jacks, in cleaning the candlesticks, or rubbing shoes,
or sometimes in the stables " they were kid upon the
waine-coppes to piece the same."

What created the special astonishment of our in-
formant was, that they who, a few days before, were
with apparent devoutness attending the matins and
the masses, were now among the wildest of the in-
toxicated plunderers ; they seemed to be possessed of
the devil ; for certainly what was yesterday the house
of God, was now regarded by the self-same persons
as the abode of Satan.

VOL. VI. I

114 LIVES OF THE

< ii A i1. It was Crum well's order, that every place and thing

^ which had been accounted holy should henceforth be

'loryUC" desecrated. The church was turned into a malthouse
or a stable, — the outhouses alone were to be religiously
preserved, for in the housing of grain or the sheltering
of cattle there could be no superstition. The father of
Dr. Shirebrook, who lived in the neighbourhood. of an
abbey treated as we have described, had purchased a
portion of the timber of the church, and all the wood-
work in the steeple, with the bell frame. Of him his son
demanded, thirty years after the suppression, whether
he, the spoiler, " thought well of the religious persons
and the religion they used. And he told me, ' Yea :
for I did see no cause to the contrary/ ' Well/ said I,
' then how came it to pass you were so ready to destroy
and spoil the thing you thought well of?' 'What
should I do V said he. ' Might I not as well as others
have some spoil of the abbey ? for I did see all would
away, and therefore I did as others did.' " " Such a
devil," remarks the piety of the son, " is covetousness
and mammon ! "

What is most to be deplored is, the demolition of
some of the noblest libraries that the country possessed;
the miserable martyrdom, as Fuller styles it, of innocent
books. Works of inestimable value were sold, for next
to nothing, to grocers and soap- sellers, yhole ship-
loads were transported to the Continent, to become the
possession of wiser foreigners. Bale knew of two
noble libraries, the contents of which were sold for the
paltry sum of forty shillings, to a merchant who used
them as waste paper ; and who, in ten years, had only
consumed half.

It was a misfortune to the country, that Crurnwell
was an illiterate man : he was a man of the world
who despised the learning which he did not possess.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 115 .

The enlightened mind of Henry was, at this time, «.n,U'
intoxicated by his various dissipations. Henry was, _'_
with all his faults, always open and plain-spoken ; he
would have despised a recourse to artifice and deceit :
and if his mind had been disengaged, he would not
have sanctioned conduct, on the part of Cmmwell,
which has entitled that great minister to the title of
the Diabolus Monachorum.

CrumwelTs great object being to effect the dissolu-
tion of the monasteries, in a manner as unostentatious
as possible, he determined to deceive as well as to
terrify the public. The inquisitors, the king, the
parliament, all having united in a declaration that,
taking the greater monasteries as a whole, no charge
of immorality could be substantiated against them, it
became CrurnwelTs business to give the lie to a state-
ment which, from a political motive, he had formerly
permitted to be made. His mode of acting was
diabolical, and our authority for sayiug So is hot
Sanders or any Romish partisan, but an honest blunt
partisan who would never wilfully deceive, how<
much he might be deceived himself. Fuller speaks
strongly and like a true-hearted Christian, when he de-
scribes, as a devilish damnable act, the system which
was adopted for the seduction or corruption of nuns, l.v
the very persons who were fiercely denouncing monastic
institutions on account of their presumed immorality.
Unprincipled young men were sent as visitors to a
nunnery : if any of them succeeded in winning the
affections of an unsuspecting girl, he sought Crum-
well's favour by basely accusing her of incontinence.
Of their many repulses no mention was made ; though
by the confession of one diabolus, made in after life,
we know, that when men had sold themselves to the
father of lies, and had sworn allegiance to the accuser

I 2

116 LIVES OF THE

of the brethren, innocence itself was no safeguard or
protection. The tempter and another young man went
Intoi-dUC" to a Imnnei7> within twelve miles of Cambridge. They
represented themselves as travellers, and their dress
pointed them out as men of rank. Arriving late at
night, they were not admitted within the walls of
the convent, but were supplied with refreshment in
one of the outhouses. Here they found straw suf-
ficient for one night's rest to the travellers, and
a supply of food. In the morning, they paid their
respects to the lady abbess, and tendered their thanks
for the cautious hospitality which had been accorded
to them. They produced a forged document, by
which it was made to appear, that they were ap-
pointed visitors of monasteries under a royal com-
mission. To execute their commission in examining:

the accounts and taking note of the property, they
were for several days partakers of the hospitalities of
the house ; they resorted to all the arts of fashionable
life to corrupt the younger nuns. They entirely failed ;
but they had the baseness, after they had left the
house, to make report " that nothing but their weari-
ness bounded their wantonness." The conscience of
one of these wretched beings reproaching him in his
old age, he made a confession, too late to undo the
evil of which he had been the cause, or to restore to
society and peace of mind the unhappy victims of his
calumny.

Among the falsehoods freely circulated, were those
which related to the existence of underground passages
leading from friaries to nunneries, for the clandestine

convenience of those who hated the light because their
deeds were evil. But this application of the sewers,
which are found upon examination to have gone no
further than the exigencies of drainage required, is now

AECHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 117

known to have originated in men who, whatever may
have IP -en their zeal against popery, had forgotten that,
amono* deadlv sins, falsehood is one. and that amonsr

. . . tory

Christian virtues, the charity which thinketh no evil
is the fr

The charges brought against the larger monasteries
will be received with greater caution when the treat-
ment experienced by the monks of Christ Church, Can-
terbury, is brought incidentally under our notice. The

•r will remember how the secular clergy were

d from Canterbury Cathedral and supplanted by
monks, through the strong measures first of Elfric and
Dimstan and then of Lanfrauc. With the monks of his
cathedral Archbishop ( 'ranmer did not live on very
friendly terms : and, when it was expedient to attack
the greater monasteries, against no monks were viler
charges brought than against the monks of Canterbury.
"When, under Henry VIII, the regulars were in their
turn displaced, and seculars were appointed to stalls in
the metropolitan church, the prior was to be super-

1 by a dean, to be nominated by the crown, and
the monks by prebendaries, to be appointed by the
archbishop. The deanery was offered to the calumni-
ate! 1 prior, who preferred the acceptance of a large
pension ; and Archbishop Cranmer selected for the
first prebendaries of the new foundation the very
monks who had been so foully traduced. It follows,
that the infamous charges brought against them were,
"on examination, found to be without foundation ; or

rhat Cranmer was not only more worldly and time-
serving than his admirers are prepared to admit, but
that he was utterly regardless of religion and morality.
Of the monastic institution I do not profess to be an
admirer. That the monasteries were, at one period, a
-ing to barbarian Europe, no one who is acquainted

torv.

118 LIVES OF THE

<?HAP. with the history of the Middle Age will deny ; but
— X~- when, in the progress of civilization, the abodes erected
to protect virtue in its weakness, and to encourage
learning when it was despised, became the resort of
the idle and the stronghold of superstition, their refor-
mation became a necessity, and their extinction an
event not to be deplored.

We admit and lament the increase of idleness, and its
daughter immorality, during several centuries, in some
of the monasteries, — and this on the showing of the
monks themselves. Such was the inevitable consequence
indeed of the celibacy to which they were vowed. By
aiming, not to perfect human nature, but to assimilate
the nature of men to the nature of those spiritual
beings who dwell there, where they neither marry nor
are given in marriage, the constrained celibacy of the
monks reduced them too often to the condition of the
fallen angels. But against that sweeping condemna-
tion of the regulars in the time of Henry VIII, in
which popular or party historians indulge, historical
honesty must protest. While philanthropy mourns
over the fact of human corruption, it will receive with
suspicion charges of systematic immorality, brought
against thousands of our fellow-creatures. The suspi-
cion of unfairness will be increased when it is found,
that the avarice of the accusers was gratified by the
legal condemnation of the accused ; and a fresh increase
of suspicion will arise, when we find that, as opposed to
the testimony of parliament in favour of the larger
monasteries, little is to be adduced but the ipse dixit
of such a man as Henry VIII. To party feeling, when
kept within bounds, there can be no objection; but party
spirit becomes licentious when it exaggerates the evil
and suppresses the good, when, without examination,
it circulates abusive libels, and, at the same time, with-

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 119

holds, as unworthy of credit, the testimony producible UJL\ i§

to the merit of those who, after all, were human beings,

not demons in human form. introd

totj.

Party spirit can do great things ; but perhaps its
most wonderful feat is the conversion of Thomas Crum-
well into a saint. Protestants are so unreasonably
vehement in their condemnation of what Latimer called
monkery, that they not only believe every tale that can
be told against a monk, but the Diabolus Monachorum
himself they have canonized.

The life of Cruniwell from the pen of Foxe is found,
upon investigation, to be little better than a romance.
Whenever his life shall be selected as the subject
of a monograph, the author will find almost an auto-
biography of the great statesman in the numerous notes
and memorandums which, never intended for any eye
but his own, are now preserved in the Public Record
Office. He was in the habit of drawing up short notes
or remembrances to guide his memory, when he attended
the king or council. An historian who has the merit of
having consulted these documents, Mr. Tytler, does not
hesitate to say, that they exhibit Cruniwell as "equally
tyrannical and unjust, despising the atithority of the
law, and unscrupulous in the use of torture."

The eulogists of Crumwell have- availed themseh
of the obscurity which covers his origin, to exalt
his merit by exaggerating the poverty with which in
early life he had to contend. That he was born in
humble circumstances is certain, and he was nobly
proud of the honour of being a jwvus homo ; the first
of a family to be ennobled by himself.* But of his

* According to Foxe, he was born at Putney, or thereabouts, and
•was the son of a smith. His mother afterwards married a " shear-
man," i.e. a cloth shearer. Pole, -with aristocratic superciliousness,
says : " Si tale nomen quoeratur, Crumvellum eum appellant ; si
genus, de nullo quideni ante eum, qui id nonien gereret, audivi.

120

LIVES OF THE

CHAP, extreme poverty no proof exists. On the contrary,

_J_ we find him, at an early period of life, in the service

introduc- of Cecily, marchioness of Dorset ; the servant of the

Marchioness of Dorset could not have been a " shoeless

vagabond ;" or, at all events, if he was " a poor object,"

he was soon raised from his dunghill. Foxe, to whom

we are indebted for these expressions, informs us, that

Crumwell, when he was in Italy, learned Erasmus's

Latin translation of the New Testament by heart, and

his statement is repeated by those historians who accept

him as an authority. This story is improbable ; but

if it be true, it is inconsistent with the statement

which represents his poverty in early life as extreme.

It was not customary for "young vagabonds" to learn

Latin ; it was an accomplishment reserved for young

ecclesiastics, or for persons educated at the universities;

and a university education Crumwell certainly did not

receive. No other time can be found in his busy, and

for a long period disreputable, life, in which he could

master the Latin language ; it is more than doubtful

whether he ever understood Latin at all. He told

Cranmer that he had been at one time " a ruffian ;" and

all authorities agree, in mentioning the tradition that

he served in Italy as a common soldier. There is a

difficulty in fixing the time when this took place. He

could not have been " a trooper of the Constable of

Bourbon" at the sacking of Rome;""" before that event

took place, he was in the service of Cardinal Wolsey.t

Dicunt tamen viculum esse, prope Londinum, ubi natus erat, et
ubi pater ejus pannis verrendis victum quaeritabat ; sed de hoc
parum refert." — Poli Apolog. ad Car. V. Imperat. 126.

* Maitland's conjecture is, that if he was there, he was present
as an accredited agent of Cardinal Wolsey.

t Hitherto it has been uncertain when he first entered into the
service of Wolsey. But among Wolsey's miscellaneous papers pre-
served in the Kecord Office, we find a letter from Wolsey to Sir

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 121

"VW- shall, therefore, be probably correct in placing his CHAP.
military career at an early period of life, when, accord- '
ing to Foxe, " it came into his mind to see the world
abroad, and to learn experience." He undoubtedly mas-
tered the Italian language ; he was so captivated by the
manners and tone of feeling in Italy, that he returned
to England with something like a contempt for his
native country. He was put to many shifts to support
himself when he was abroad ; but it is certain that he
obtained admission into a merchant's house at Venice,
of which he was for a time commercial agent. He is
said to have been employed as clerk to a mercantile
firm at Antwerp ; he established so high a character,
that, on his return home, he was employed by the
authorities at B« >>t<>n as their agent, to procure for
them certain privileges from Rome. All the state-
ments relating to his early life are involved in ob-
scurity, perhaps designedly by himself; and we must
his career by reference to the documents of which
mention has just been made.

From his own correspondence we discover, that, in
1512, he was a thriving merchant at Middleborough ;
and this is perhaps the first indisputable notice of him
in history. He was not as yet a landed proprietor; but
his pers' »nalty was so considerable and increasing, that
he employed a correspondent at Antwerp to procure
for him an iron chest in which to keep it ; for this the
prico demanded was, according to the present value of
money, not less than eighty pounds. He was a factor

Thomas More, in the handwriting of Crumwell, corrected by the
Cardinal. The date of the letter is 1526; the attack upon Eome
"was in 1527 : and, independently of what has been said, we have
evidence under Crumwell's own hand, that he was, at this time,
advancing large sums of money, as a money-lender, to the younger
members of aristocratic families in England.

122 LIVES OF THE

or general merchant, engaged in a variety of mercantile
speculations, until the year 1520. His correspondent,
lnforvUC Steven Vaughan, in 1512, addressing him with respect
as " Right Worshipful Sir," and evidently regarding
him as a person of some influence among the commer-
cial aristocracy, says in a postscript to the letter just
referred to, " If you could help to get a licence for
cheese, I could get both you and me much money."*
He was more particularly engaged in the cloth trade.
That he was not a needy man in 1512, is certain ; it is
equally certain, that he was a thriving man in 1520.
He may, in the interval, have been unfortunate in some
of his transactions ; but it is very improbable, that he
was reduced to beggary. On the contrary, he was,
during that period, enjoying the comforts of domestic
life. In 1528 or 1529, Crumwell was in Wolsey's
service. At this period, he sent his son Gregory to>
Cambridge. Young men, at that time, went to the
university at an earlier age than they do at present ;
but Gregory Crumwell must have been not less than
fourteen or fifteen years of age. He was therefore born
in the year 1515 or 1516. This historical statement —
for which I am chiefly indebted to the researches of
Mr. Brewer — is of value, since it discredits the story
which Foxe gives us from a novel of Bandello; accord-
ing to which the prosperous English merchant was, at
this time, a poverty-stricken wanderer in Italy, depen-
dent upon the charity of Francis Frescobaldi, whom he
gratefully rewarded when Frescobaldi was in want and
Crumwell in his grandeur. There are other stories
relating to obligations, incurred by Crumwell at one

* Tytler, Henry VIII. 425. Ample use has been made of these
materials by Sir Henry Ellis, whose notes prefixed to the " Original
Letters" are valuable fragments of history made by a profound
scholar.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 123

period of his life and generously repaid at another. OHAK

But it is very difficult, to discover the period of his

tory.

life when his poverty was such as, in these stories, it is Intrt

assumed to have been.

Although we may be compelled to reject as fabulous
some of the anecdotes invented or advanced, to sur-
round with a romantic interest a very prosaic per-
sonage, it is not necessary to doubt, that there was
much of generosity in the character of Crumwell, or
that he was one of those whose sympathetic nature can
rejoice with them that do rejoice; although we dare not
assert, that one who could witness the application of tor-
ture could without hypocrisy weep with them that weep.
No one could have had such devoted adherents, eager
to advance his interests, as Crumwell had, if there wei.-
not a conviction, on the part of his employes, that In-
desired the promotion of their fortune as well as his
own. He rewarded liberally, and indulged the sym-
pathies of his nature in requiting past kindnesses. It
was the universal tradition that, although ungainly in
person, his manners were prepossessing; and that he
could add to the value of a favour bv the "-race with

which he conferred it. He merely required in return

that deference and respect, which are peculiarly dear t<»

If-raised plebeian. All this we may gather from

his correspondence ; and without these advantages w< •

know not how a man, circumstanced as Crumwell wa-.

could have reached the elevation to which he was

raised when he became the second man of this realm

—the offer < <jo of the king.

Before the year 1520, Crumwell had added to his
other avocations that of a lawyer ; he became a
scrivener or attorney. He had a sufficient command
of money to be able to advance, on loan, consider-
able sums to the younger members of the aristocracy.

124 LIVES OF THE

who, to maintain their position in the splendid court
of Henry VIII, were frequently involved in difficulties.
toy. Crumwell was of sufficient importance to be elected a
member of the parliament of 1523. There is extant
a humorous letter of his, to his " especial and entirely
beloved friend John Cheke, then residing at Bilbowe in
Biscay," in which he describes what he had to endure
in a session of seventeen weeks. He did not take any
prominent part in the debates ; but the parliament
met the demand of the cardinal, by granting to the
king a larger subsidy than ever before was voted in
this realm. It is not improbable that Crumwell made
himself useful to the Government on this occasion ;
and as we find Lord Henry Percy, the unfortunate
suitor of Anne Boleyn, among those who had applied
to Crumwell for pecuniary assistance, we may presume
that the thriving attorney was brought under the
notice of the cardinal by the young noblemen who
formed the court of the lord legate, — a court as ex-
pensive as that of the king.

Crumwell was appointed attorney to Cardinal Wol-
sey. The cardinal was, at the time of this appointment,
engaged in the suppression of certain smaller monas-
teries, and in the transfer of the property to his two
colleges, the one at Ipswich and the other at Oxford.
He required in his solicitor, a man of the world, skilled
in understanding the value of property, learned in
the law, and able to surmount all legal difficulties, not
very scrupulous as to the means to be employed in the
furtherance of a great end, conciliatory in manner, and
firm of purpose. Such a man he found in Crumwell ;
and how busily the solicitor was employed, the drafts
of leases and agreements in his handwriting preserved
in the Record Office remain to attest.

Crumwell was not at this time a Protestant. It is

AKCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 125

quite certain that a Protestant would not be employed
in Wolsey's service. At this period, he was far from
being a religious man. A mark of religion, at this In£oduc-
period, was an attention to the offices of the Church.
Although a member of a churchman's family, these
he neglected. ~\Ye know that a man may be an infidel,
so far as the facts of Christianity are concerned, and
yet be a superstitious niao, and of CrurnwelTs super-
stition we have proof.*

His political opinions were in advance of his age ;
and he LTD re free utterance to them, when conversing
with tht- young nobles, who were learning statecraft in
the household of the cardinal. The difficulty which
presented itself to the cardinal's mind at this time, was
how to reconcile his duty, or what he thought to be
sudi, to his country and his Church with the wishes of
the king. It may seem to some, that the question really
related to a contest between his own interest and that
of ], -r ; but self-deception enabled Wolsey to

* Of his religion we have spoken before. Of his superstition,
tainly of the absence of Protestant principle on his part,
at a time when he was at the head of the ultra-Protestant party,
have proof from his will. The first draft of his will is dated
in Jr. : in it he leaves twenty shillings to each of the

five orders of friars within the city of London, to pray for his
soul. He directs his executors "to engage a priest" to sing for his
soul three years next after his death, and to pay him for the same
twenty pound?. Five or six years afterwards he had occasion to
correct his will, when the bequests for prayers to be made for his
soul were retained ; and it is proved that this was not an oversight,
for, as regarded the priest who was to pray fur the dead, he desired
him to continue his services for seven years, and he increased his
stipend from 201. to 46£. 12s. 6t/. His partisans considered as not
authentic the report which was circulated of his last dying speech
and confession, but the will must make their labour vain. "What
religion he had, would appear to be superstition, and the superstition
of an irreligious man induces him to seek the advantages while he
avoids the responsibilities of religion.

126 LIVES OF THE

put it under the former aspect to his own conscience ;
— !_ and from this point of view it was discussed by his
friends. In conversation, on the subject, with Eeginald
Pole, then a young man, Crumwell did not hesitate
to declare the principles upon which he thought every
wise politician should act. Pole contended, that the
counsellor of the king should have a single eye to the
honour and real interests of his master ; he discoursed
learnedly on the subject, enforcing his view by an
appeal to the law of nature and to the writings of
the learned and pious. Crumwell scouted the notion,
as adapted exclusively to obtain applause, when pro-
pounded in the schools or declaimed from the pulpit.
He contended, that these antiquated notions would
be met by ridicule in the secret counsels of princes;
that the business of a wise counsellor is, first to
discover what are the secret wishes of his king, and

then, in carrying them into effect, to make them ap-
pear by specious argument to be consistent with the
dictates and requirements of morality and religion.
Instead of devoting himself to the old-fashioned school-
men, he advised Pole to study the writings of a dis-
.tinguished modern, and to read Machiavelli.*

The statement is of importance to those, who would

* Pole's veracity in making this statement has been questioned.
Except on the principle of rejecting every historical fact, which does
not coincide with our preconceived opinions, one can scarcely under-
stand why. If the reader will peruse the "Apologia Reginaldi
Poli ad Carolum V. Crcsarem," he will find it a dull, dry book ; but
he will not suspect the writer of that wilful misrepresentation which
the description of the conversation with Crumwell must be con-
sidered, if it did not take place. He might occasionally mistake or
misunderstand, or even colour a fact, but he would not deliberately
invent a conversation. Xor is there any reason why Crumwell
should not recommend Machiavelli. Machiavelli was, at this time,
rather famous than infamous. The worldly wisdom would be the
more attractive to a worldly man like Crumwell, from its novelty.

torr.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 127

form a correct estimate of CrumwelTs character. He CHAP.
was influenced by policy, and not by principle. He _,'_
was not singular. *

Crumwell was not a man to lose the splendid oppor-
tunities of making his fortune, when he had obtained
a footing in the cardinal's court. Upon Crumwell, as
upon his man of business, Wolsey placed extraordinary
reliance : and the proud cardinal, on his fall, humbled
himself before his dependant, under whose obsequious
manners he was not slow to discover an indomitable
pride. It strikes one as extraordinary, to find Wobey.
who was accused of haughtiness to his equals and •
to his superiors, addressing his low-born solicitor as "his
own entirely beloved Crumwell :" " Mv own aider in

* *

this my intolerable anxiety and heaviness : " My own
trusted and most assured refuge in this my calamity :"
"" My only refuge and aid." We are compelled, how-

. on reading the letters, to come to the conclusion,
that the endearing tern.- used, not out of grati-

tude for kindness already shown : but from an earnest
retain the services of a sagacious man, whom
the cardinal distrusted, but was obliged to employ.

The king was, at one time, prejudiced against Crum-
well to such an extent, that it was generally sup]
that, for malpractices in the suppression of the monas-
teries, when \V«>Ls. v was disgraced, Crumwell would
be hanged ; a change of ministry too frequently im-
. edition of the minister and his immediate
partisans. But Crumwell found powerful friends at
court. Sir Christopher Hales, who afterwards became

:er of the Rolls, " a mighty Papist," as Foxe ?:
him, mentioned Crumwell to the king, as one likely t->
be of good - in his controversy with the pope.

The Earl of Bedford also extended to him his protection :
and introduced him to the king, as one who had been

128 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, instrumental in saving the earl's life when, in Italy, he

__^ was engaged in the king's service. The king was made

introduc- aware of the fact, that he was bound as a lawyer to

tory. ' f J

plead the cause of the cardinal, and he liked him none
the less for that. The king's heart often relented, and
would have spared his old and faithful servant, had it
not been for the interference of Anne Boleyn.

At all events, I gather, from "Wolsey's correspondence,
that Crumwell had already secured for himself the
patronage of several powerful persons, who were willing
to promote his interest at court. So deeply was
Wolsey impressed by an opinion of Crumwell's ability,
and of his power of influencing others, that to him the
once proud cardinal became, at last, a supplicant for
protection. Wolsey received with humility a letter of
admonition and advice from Crumwell ; which, con-
sidering the relative position of the respective parties,
we must regard as insolent. I have read with attention
the letters addressed to Crumwell by Wolsey, and I
think, that any one who does so, will come to the con-
clusion, that Wolsey had no confidence in Crumwell's
sincerity ; and that Crumwell, on the other hand, did
not treat his fallen master with consideration and kind-
ness. He was obliged to defend him, for he had no
other course to pursue ; but he was in a state of the
greatest alarm for his own safety. He heard it ru-
moured, that he was himself to share his master's
prison. The cardinal, in one letter, entreats him, as
one who had neglected to come to him when he had
been expected — to repair to him, " as soon as parlia-
ment was broken up." He entices him to come by
saying, that he has things to say to him concerning
his own self — as if he knew the selfishness of the man.
In another letter, he says, " There are few things, since
my trouble, that more grieveth me than your not

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 129

coming hither at this time;" in another, "The ferdoy-
ing and putting over of your coming hither hath so
increased my sorrow, and put me in such anxiety of
mind, that this night my breath and wind, by sighing,
so short, that I was, by the space of three hours, as
one that should have died." Other passages to the same
purpose might be produced. There is one which is
almost affecting: "Mine only comfort, — At the rever-
ence of God leave me not now ; for if ye do, I shall
not long live in this wretched world." Owing to the
solicitor's not having come to him, as he had promised,
the preceding night, the great cardinal adds : " I fear
much the sending of Mr. Bonner with the deed hath
put you in some displeasure ; so God be my judge and
my soul, I meant no hurt therein. If he for lack
of wit and experience hath not, as I fear me, done
well, let me not perish for the same."

For the exquisitely pathetic scene in Shakespeare, we
certainly have not the authority of Wolsey's biographer,
George Cavendish. Shakespeare represents the reluc-
tant Crumwell exhorted by Wolsey to provide for his
own safety, by seeking service under the king. But
according to Cavendish, Crumwell required no prompt-
ing. The scheme of passing from the service of the
cardinal to that of the king was entirely his own.
He had been preparing the way. He complained to
Cavendish — " I never had promotion by my lord to
the increase of my living;" and he added, "Thus much
will I say to you, that I intend, God willing, this after-
noon, when my lord hath dined, to ride to London,
and so to the court, where I will either make or ma*
ere I come again."

The next day, Crumwell had passed from Wolsey's
service ; he had been accepted as the servant of the
king. When he left the cardinal's house, he sought

VOL. VI. K

130 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, and obtained an audience of the king. Pole, who
__J_ had the information from those who were present,
Into?yUC" inf°rms us> that the servant of Wolsey now sug-
gested to the king that he should overcome the
pope's opposition to the divorce, by an exertion of
his supremacy.'"" What further ensued we know not.
With the one exception of his being the bearer to the
cardinal of the thousand pounds, which the king had
granted him to pay his expenses to Yorkshire, the
name of Crumwell is no longer connected with that of
Wolsey. He was not with him when Wolsey journeyed
into Yorkshire ; he was not with him at his last
moments. Crumwell was, at that time, making the
fortune which had first been made and then nearly
marred, when he was in the service of Wolsey. We
only know, without being able to account for the
fact, his wonderful and rapid rise. In the Michael-
mas term of 1531, we find him addressed as "the
king's trusty counsellor." In 1532 he was Master
of the Jewels, and Clerk of the Hanaper. In 1533, he
was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer for life ; he
was knighted, and was probably now appointed Vice-
Chamberlain. In 1534, he was Master of the Eolls,
Vicar-General, and Secretary of State, an office he re-
tained till 1539. About the same time, he was made
Justice of the Forests north of the Trent. He was
appointed Lord Privy Seal on the 2nd of July, 1536,
and was created 'a peer on the 9th of July. In the
same year, 1536, his ecclesiastical title was changed,
without any change in the office, to Vicegerent in
Ecclesiastical Causes. In 1537, as there was no Act

* "What he really did was probably to urge the king to act upon
the suggestion already made by Cranmer. Could anything, asks
Sir Henry Ellis, have more completely sealed the ruin of "Wolsey's
fortunes than this suggestion ?

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 131

of Uniformity, he, though a layman, became Dean of
Wells. In 1539, he was appointed Great Chamber-
lain. On the 17th of April, 1540, Thomas Crumwell
became Earl of Essex.

Such was the remuneration, cheap to the king but
highly prized by the minister, by which Henry VIII.
requited the industry of Crumwell ; insulted, through
his elevation, the proud remnant of the ancient no-
bility ; and taught the new aristocracy, that it was not
by an assumption of the traditionary rights of an
obsolete feudalism, but by subservience to the crown,
that wealth and power were to be acquired in the
English Court. The feudal notion, indeed, by which
the king amidst his nobles was only prim >.'.>: inter pares,
was exploded ; the modern notion of sovereignty was
introduced, leading, under the vigour of the Tudors,
to despotism, and terminating in the extinction of a
dynasty through the weakness and vanity of the Stuarts.

From the endowments of the Church the great
officers of state had derived their income, when the
duties of the government devolved upon ecclesiastics.
"When the temporal lords became aware, that other
duties pertained to their high station, beyond that of
maintaining the liberty of the subject, they could
serve the crown without being a burden on the
sovereign to any great extent. But when the Tudors
determined to be served not by rank but by talent,
and when the spirit of the age required the clergy
to attend to their long neglected clerical duties, we
find complaint frequently made by diplomatists, that
the service of the crown was ruin to their families.
The crown commanded their services, but paid little
attention to their salaries.

In this state of things we have the explanation of,
if not the apology for, the avarice of Crumwell. He

K 2

132 LIVES OF THE

was determined to become an earl and to found a family;
but the profits of office were not sufficient to support
IntoryUC" *ts dignity. While destroying, therefore, the hen, by
which the golden eggs had been laid, for his prede-
cessors in public office, he appropriated for his own
use what he found in the nest. His family he en-
riched by obtaining from the crown a grant of not
fewer than thirty manors out of the confiscated mon-
astic estates ; we have seen how he obtained ready
money by the acceptance of bribes, and by recourse to
various measures of extortion. He was accused of
peculation ; and there can be no doubt that much which
ought to have found its way into the royal treasury,
remained, unaccounted for, in the coffers of the minister.
His expenses were enormous, for he knew the im-
portance of purchasing the favour of the great by
princely donations ; we have a list of his frequent
presents to royal and noble personages. His tastes,
also, were expensive : he provided theatrical entertain-
ments for the court ; * he encouraged the drama among
the boys at Eton ; he found time to indulge in play ;
we find him losing at cards and dice various sums
from twenty shillings to thirty pounds. His establish-
ment was conducted on a suitable scale, and he delighted
in hawks and hounds. On the 19th of November,
1538, he indulged his taste, and at the same time made
a good investment, by paying two thousand pounds for
a diamond and a ruby. Like most " new men," he was,
to adopt a homely phrase still used in the north of
England, "house-proud;" he fell into the extrava-
gance in building, against which he had warned Car-

* In 1539 lie went to great expense in exhibiting a masque;
among the items is one of twenty-one shillings and two pence
" paid for the hiring of Divine Providence, when she played before
the king."

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 133

dinal AVolsey. Besides his official residence at the Rolls,
he had establishments at Austin Friars, at Hackney,
at Stepney, at Mortlake, and at Ewhurst. Of these
Stepney was probably his favourite abode, as from
thence many of his letters are written. While ex-
tensive works were carried on at all these places,
as if their owner were reckless of expense, we some-
times see the economy of the thrifty merchant making
itself apparent. To save the purchase of mutton, his
steward is directed, on one occasion, " to find the
household with venison;" from all quarters the great
man was complimented by presents of game.

AVe have seen how he caused his despotism to be
felt in every part of the country ; one would have
supposed that for gambling, plays, and field sports he
would have little time. As is the case with all
really great men, he could descend from the adminis-
tration of a case on which the life of man depended,
to the direction of the most minute details. Amonor

the Cottonian manuscripts there are certain memo-
randums in Crumwell's handwriting, which are called
by him "Remembrances;" they were notes intended
to remind him of what he was to do or say, when
waiting upon the king, or attending in his place at
parliament or convocation. Their miscellaneous cha-
racter renders them extremely interesting and valu-
able. They show how he had brought his mind to
disregard sentiment, and to look upon everything from
a business point of view. "\Ve are amused when we dis-
cover the great minister making an especial note, that
he may not fail to exhibit to the king " the patterns of
the embroider}- for the queen ;" and "in the king's name
to demand from my Lord of Canterbury the best mitre
of his predecessor." It is only what we should expect,
when we find him making a memorandum to have the

134 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, goods of Castell-acre valued "for my part thereof;"
though perhaps it may surprise us as a work of supere-
rogation, when, in apportioning some monastic estates
to certain of his friends, he found it necessary to add
" myselfe for launde." We are pleased with his judi-
cious piety or policy in reminding himself to appoint
preachers, to go throughout the realm to preach the
Gospel and the true word of God ; but it is not
pleasant to read the following : " Item — the Abbot of
Beading to be sent down to be tried and executed
at Beading; : Item — to see that the evidence is well

O '

sorted, and the indictments well drawn against the
said abbots" — of Glastonbury and Beading — " and their
employers." This is not, in modern times, the business
of a judge. " Item — to advertise the king of the order-
ing of Master (Bishop) Fisher, and to show him of
the indenture, which I have delivered to his solicitors.
Item — to know his pleasure touching Master More.
Item — when Master Fisher shall go to his execution,
and also the other." Modern notions will be especially
shocked at another item : " To send Gendon to the
Tower to be racked, and to send Mr. Bellesys, Mr.
Lee, and Mr. Petre to assist Mr. Lieutenant in the
examination," — i.e. the torturing of the poor victim.
We are tempted to inquire into the meaning of another
item : " Certain persons to be sent to the Tower for the
further examination of the abbot of Glaston."

Thus, within six years, the scrivener, who had trem-
bled lest in the Vortex in which his great master sank,
he should be involved, became the foremost man in
England. To a similar amount of power no other
minister ever reached, before his time or after. He was
the confidential adviser of the king ; and, though he
had to act with caution, yet, in relation both to foreign
and home affairs, his own will became that of Henry ;

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 135

he ruled the monasteries before he dissolved them ; CHAP.
and had the disposal of all preferments in Church and __J1_
State ; he corrupted or cajoled the parliament, and ^^d110
packed the House of Commons ; he domineered over
Convocation ; he terrified into silence those whom he
could not persuade by his eloquence ; he intimidated
juries ; he rendered his master despotic, that he might
himself rule as a tyrant

We have seen how he brought this power to bear
upon the destruction of the monastic institute. To
destroy what had been blended with the institutions
of the land, the habits, and at one time the affections
of the people, could not have been effected by any one
less determined to act up to the fulness of his powers,
and whose powers had become exorbitant through the
astounding weakness of his opponents, and his own
legal sagacity and administrative industry. His
further proceedings, both as minister of the crown
and as vicegerent of the king in spiritual matters,
will force themselves upon our notice, when we are
treating of the life of Archbishop Cranmer. We shall
only here remark that, as we read the life of Crumwell
in the ordinary history of the period, his fall seems to
have been as unexpected, and almost as rapid, as his
rise. We seem to be reading some fictitious narrative
in an Oriental tale. The destruction or dishonest
manipulation of public documents to which we have
alluded before, excludes the hope of throwing light
upon the fall of Crumwell from any records we possess,
may partially account for it by looking at the
state of the case and the character of the king.
Henry judged of a man's merits by his success.
When he had decided upon a line of policy, he con-
fided the conduct of it to the minister by whom it had
been suggested ; he only so far interfered with the

136 LIVES OF THE

details, as to cause it to be felt that he was actually
the master. When the measures of a minister be-
lntoryUC" came unpopular, the king — whose desire for popu-
larity was a passion, only checked under the pre-
dominance of some more powerful feeling — sought
to save himself by casting his servant upon the
troubled waters ; he sometimes looked after him with
a transient sigh of pity, but he never stretched forth
his hand to save him.

Cram well had failed in every promise he had made
to the king, except in the suppression of the monas-
teries. Even here, in the king's view of the subject,
he had failed. Henry had no antipathy to monasteries
on religious grounds; his conscientious and even his
religious principles would have led him to reform, and
not to destroy. But he suffered himself to be inflamed
against the monks by the representations he received
of their disloyalty ; and his revenge was quickened by
the belief, that, through the confiscation of their pro-
perty, he would be independent of parliament. The
lamentation and outcry, sure to be occasioned by the
overthrow of an ancient institution even when the
revolution is necessary, had reached the royal ear, and
what was the result ? The policy of Crumwell had
been too refined. To prevent disturbance, he had en-
listed nobles, country gentlemen, and the populace, as
his allies in the attack upon the monasteries ; he had
invited them to a participation of the plunder. For
a time, all went on well : the king had money for his
pleasures ; the courtiers were enriched to meet him
at the gaming-table ; the abbots and leading monks
were satisfied with their pensions; — but the treasury
was exhausted. The monastic property had gone no
one knew where or how. King and parliament had
been cajoled into the expectation, that taxation would

AECHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 137

henceforth cease. The king was humiliated and the

people were exasperated, when a larger subsidy was

tory.

required, demanded, and reluctantly granted, than the Introduc-

people had conceded or the king had asked in any
preceding year.

While he was bribing the superiors of the monas-
teries to betray their trust, it may have been good
policy for Crumwell to have had recourse to a system
in which he has had, in every age, too many followers ;
that of turning the religious party to which he was
opposed into ridicule.. He forgot, or never understood,
that the religion of the monks was Christianity, though
Christianity under a corrupt form ; and in point of
fact, when laughing at monkery, the playwrights
who found in Crumwell a patron, were advocating —
perhaps unintentionally — the cause of irreligion ; and
invocation expressed it, of atheism. Convocation
.petitioned for protection, not, as it was said, from the
love of papacy ; for it was the Convocation which had
denounced the pope as having no authority in England ;
but because all the piety in England, except when
pious men were blinded by their party zeal, had been
disgust. -d and shocked.*

The Act of Six Articles, of which we shall have
occasion to speak at greater length hereafter, was
introduced for the protection of religion. It was, as
were all the measures of Henry, violent and unjust,
though it was only partially enforced ; but Crumwell
acquiesced in the policy, from a conviction probably
that he had gone too far.

Crumwell had engaged to humble the clergy as well

as to make free with their money, and to annihilate

the power of the pope ; but he had suffered himself to

be the fautor of heretics, and so to stultify the king,

* Wilkins, iii. 850, 863.

138 LIVES OF THE

whose boast it was, that it was on Catholic principles
only, — and on Catholic as distinguished from Pro-
Into?y.UC~ 'testant principles, — that he rejected the pope.

Crumwell had promised to restore the country to
peace. He had, for a season, established a reign of terror.
For a time, he appeared to be successful ; but the ex-
cited state of London, apparently on the eve of insur-
rection, at length convinced the king, that a change of
measures was not sufficient. The minister must be
himself dismissed. Crum well's Irish policy had been a
failure. He had there attempted to purchase peace by
bribing those who threatened to break it; and by heap-
ing rewards upon the supporters of Government. The
money was taken, but the rebellious spirit was unsub-
dued ; it only waited for an opportunity to burst into
a blaze. Crumwell was equally unsuccessful in his
foreign policy. Instead of treading in the steps of
his illustrious predecessor, his desire had been to form
an alliance with the Protestants of Germany ; at the
head of this alliance he designed to place the King
of England. It would appear, that instead of pro-
pounding his policy to Henry he endeavoured to
entrap him ; to make the king the foremost man in
Europe, but to keep him ignorant of his intentions,
until the king should find that accomplished, to the
means of accomplishing which he might have ob-
jected. Such a man as Henry would never forgive
the minister, among whose papers was discovered a
clandestine correspondence with the German princes.
Although the correspondence may not have been dis-
covered until after his fall, it was probably notified to
the king before his arrest. This conjecture enables us
to account for the report that Ann of Cleves was the
cause of Crumwell's disgrace. If this be stated, as an
isolated fact, it is, as Burnet observes, contradicted by

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 139

the favours which, after the arrival of Ann of Cleves, CHAP.
the minister still received from the hands of the king. _^_
It was after her arrival, that Crumwell received his* Introduc-

tory.

earldom. The king's conduct to Ann of Cleves was
offensive, disgusting, and unmanly ; it proved, as is too
often found to be the case with princes, that he had not
the common feelings of a gentleman ; but, instead of
venting his anger upon Crumwell, he confided to him
his disappointment, and consulted him as to the means
by which he might extricate himself from his contract.*
But when that marriage contract; was found to be an
item in those clandestine communications which Crum-
well had conducted with the German princes, the in-
dignation of the haughty sovereign knew no bounds.

There is a letter extant among the Cottonian MSS.
from the wife of Gregory Crumwell addressed to the
king, in which she alludes, not to one act of treason,
but to " the heinous trespasses and grievous offences of
my father-in-law/'

It is said by Foxe, that Crumwell had foreseen his
fall ; and that two years before the event, he had pre-
pared for its occurrence, by making provision for his
sen-ants. He knew the uncertain tenure of office ; and
that, in those days, a change of ministry implied the
almost certain death of the minister. His affection
for his family was great, and his kindness towards his
dependants is praiseworthy. He desired to disconnect
their fortunes from his own ; he remembered the in-
conveniences to which he had been himself exposed on
the death of Wolsey. But this exercise of his usual
forethought did not imply that he expected what he
accepted as a possibility. He evidently intended by
his lavish expenditure upon his various houses, when a

* This appears from CrumwelTs letter to Henry from his prison
in the To\ver.

140 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, fitting time should have come, to retire from public life,
_J_ and to enjoy his olium cum dignitate. The blow, when
InJ™duc" i* came, was as a flash of lightning ; and the very pusil-
lanimity which he displayed in his letters to the king,
written after his arrest, are sufficient to show, that the
precautions he had taken did not imply more of fear
than that which is entertained by a man when he
insures his house. The destruction may come, but he
fully expects that, by proper care, it may be averted.

He was arrested in the council chamber, on the
10th of June, 1540, on a charge of high treason. The
act of the king was ratified by the tumultuous ap-
plause of the Londoners ; the only drawback to the
joy of the splenetic and hypochondriacal, was the
fear, that although imprisoned, the criminal might
nevertheless escape.

It was determined to proceed against him by bill of
attainder ; we may therefore infer, that no specific act
of treason could be substantiated against him ; or that
there were political reasons why the real cause of his
condemnation should remain unknown to the public.*
Careless as he had been of the life of others, he pleaded
for his own with so much pathos and vehemence as to
bring a tear to the eye of Henry. The king never-
theless did what he called his duty by his country.

* A bill of attainder was introduced when there was a moral
certainty of the guilt of the person accused, without sufficient evi-
dence to secure his conviction by an ordinary process in a court of
justice. It is a mistake to say that bills of attainder were an
invention of Crumwell. In the reign of Edward III. it was by
bill of attainder Eoger Mortimer and Edward Earl of Arundel were
condemned. The principle was a simple one : "We cannot prove
you to be guilty, nevertheless we will vote you a traitor, and you
shall die as such." It was a fearful instrument of cruelty and
injustice in the reign of Henry VIII. Against the mode of
proceeding, as exercised against himself, Crumwell protested in
his letters to the king.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 141

This he was wont to do, when that duty accorded with
his inclination, his interests, or his caprice.

On the 28th of July, 15-40, Thomas Crumwell, earl
of Essex, was beheaded on Tower Hill. From internal
evidence we reject both the speech and the prayer as
they are presented to us in the pages of Foxe. They
were evidently manipulated, if not originally composed,
to answer the purposes of party. The work was not
well executed. In later times the Eomanists claim him
on account of the speech ; the Protestants on account
of the prayer. It is probable that the large sums he
bequeathed to a priest, who should for seven years sing
masses for his soul, were never paid. His daughter-in-
law, in a letter to the king, complained of " the extreme
indigence and poverty in which, through her father-in-
law's most detestable offences, the family was involved."*

In accordance with the plan of the present work, a
detailed account has been given of the dissolution of
the monasteries, and a brief review has been taken of
the life and character of Thomas Crumwell. f

By prefixing introductory chapters to the several
books, I have sought to avoid the digressions or dis-

* Gregory Crum\vell married Elizabeth, daughter .of Sir John
Seymour, of "Wolf hall, in the county of Wilts, sister to Edward duke
of Somerset, and widow of Sir Anthony Oughtred. By her he had
three sons and two daughters. About five months after his father's
death, he was created Baron Crumwell. His descendant, Thomas
Crumwell, was created Viscount Lecale and Earl of Ardglass in
Ireland. The family became extinct in 1687. — Dugdale ; Xicolas.

t The name is spelt both Cromwell and Crumwell, and in the
uncertain orthography of the age it is difficult to decide which is
correct. Having the choice, I have adopted the spelling which
enables us at once to distinguish between the minister of
Henry VIII. and the Protector. It is on the same principle, and
on similar authority, to mark the man, that I write Gardyner instead
of Gardiner, and Foxe instead of Fox.

142 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, sertations, which would have interrupted the narrative ;

_J_ and I have evaded the tediousness of a twice-told tale,

introduc- when, in one and the same public transaction, two

tory. B _ r '

primates of this nation have been concerned. Hitherto
the relations of Church and State have been so intimate
that in writing the life of an archbishop, I have found
myself composing the life of a statesman ; and when I
undertook to be a biographer I have become an historian.
In the last book especially I have availed myself of the
fresh sources of information laid open to the public
under the auspices of the Master of the Rolls, to throw
new light upon that progressive though tumultuous
portion of our history, which relates to the Wars of
the Roses. I have, however, confined myself to those
political events in which the primates were immediately
concerned.

From the commencement of the Reformation period,
we shall find our primates and their suffragans gradu-
ally withdrawing from political life ; but this has ren-
dered it the more necessary to advert to the civil history
of our country in an introductory chapter. In order to
appreciate properly the character of an individual who
has occupied a prominent position in society, it is
necessary to take into consideration the circumstances
under which he received his training, through which he
has fought his way to eminence, or to which he has
succumbed ; as well as the idiosyncrasies which have
rendered him singular in his greatness or goodness.

In the overthrow of the monasteries the Church
concurred, but took no part ; the narrative of this
event belongs, therefore, to the civil history of the
country. But the leading Reformers — Cranmer and
Latimer especially — approved of the suppression of the
monasteries ; and we must pay minute attention to
the history of tha fc event, in order that we may account

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 143

for the fact, that while the dissolution received their CHAP.
sanction, they abstained from co-operation with Crum- _J_
well. CramwelTs own history is, though circuitous, lD<-roduc
closely connected with that of Cranmer. The ac-
counts given of the dissolution are generally one-sided ;
I have thought it right therefore to place both sides
of the case before the reader. The papers found in
the Record Office throw fresh light on the history
of Crumwell. Of these subjects I have therefore
treated at some length.

On the other hand, a separate consideration of the
measures, which were gradually adopted to educe a
book of Common Prayer from " the Use of Sarum" and
the other rituals of the English Church, would create
the inconvenience which an introductoiy chapter is
designed to avoid. The labours of our primates and
their clergy, during the reigns of Henry, Edward,
Elizabeth, James I. and Charles II, in committees, in
convocation, and in parliament, are inseparably inter-
11 with their biographies. A digression upon this
subject is part of their history.

Again, in the rise, the progress, the proceedings, and
the aims of Puritanism, the statements of the civil and
ecclesiastical historian are so interlaced, that it is
impossible to trace the history in detached threads;
it must be considered as a whole. The archbishops,
sometimes as partial supporters, more frequently as
decided opponents, are continually employed in the
refutation or the propagation of Puritan as distin-
guished from Catholic principles ; and, whether agreeing
in the principles or not, are in hostility to the Puritan
party, when considered in its party combinations.

The Reformation period commences in the reign of
Henry VIII. and in the primacy of "Warham ; it ter-
minates in the reign of Charles II. and in the primacy

144

LIVES OF THE

Introduc-
tory.

of Juxon. When we speak, however, of the termina-
tion of the Reformation in 1662, what is meant is only
this ; that we refer to that year as to the period of that
ecclesiastical settlement devised in convocation and
confirmed by parliament, on which we have rested,
during the last two hundred years and more. We do
not rest on any reformation carried on in the reign of
Henry VIII. or Edward VI.* What was then done was
partially repealed in Queen Mary's time, and only
partially re-enacted under Queen Elizabeth. We do
not say, that any further reformation is impossible.
We merely affirm, as a matter of fact, that the Act of
Uniformity binding upon us now, is not the act of
Elizabeth, but the act of Charles II. The Prayer-
book to which that Act refers is not the first or the
second of Edward VI. or the Prayer-book of Queen
Elizabeth ; it is the Prayer-book which was adopted
by the Houses of Convocation, in the two provinces of
the English Church in the year just mentioned.!

* In showing that we are in no way concerned with the particular
measures of reformation adopted in the time of Henry and Edward,
Mr. Gladstone observes : " The Bishop's Book, the King's Book,
the first and second Liturgy of Edward VI. with the Forty-two
Articles, are to us as though they had never been, so far as respects
any bearing upon the ecclesiastical title of our present settlement.
Had Cranmer and Ridley promulgated a Socinian Liturgy and
Articles, the circumstance need not in the slightest degree have
affected the basis on which the acts of the subsequent reign were
founded." — State in Relation to the Church, ii. 117.

f On the 29th of May, 1661, Archbishop Juxon issued his
mandate for the assembling of a convocation, with a view to the
further reformation of the Church. The work of reformation com-
menced in the formation of a committee, and the members were
guided by the principles invariably acted upon since the reign of
Henry VIII. Everything was to be brought to the test of Scrip-
ture, and of the primitive as distinguished from the mediaeval
Church. On the 20th of December, 1661, the reformed Book of
Common Prayer — the last version of the " Use of Sarum," and the

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 145

In writing the lives of the English primates during
this period, we are encountered by the difficulty, that
of this period we do not possess an impartial history
containing a simple assertion of facts as they really
existed. Every writer will have his bias, for which, as
in a game of bowls, every judicious reader will make
due allowance. But this is a very different thing from
a wilful and conscious suppression of unpalatable truth ;
from a sarcastic suggestion of a profitable falsehood ;
from a colouring of facts, so as to force them to throw
a false light upon a foregone conclusion. A work so
composed may amuse or exasperate the reader, but
can scarcely be called a history. The honest mind is
equally offended, when an author is seen defending, on
one side, a course of conduct which, when pursued by a
n attached to the opposite faction, is subjected to
the severest censure ; when a bad action is justified,
because the doer of it is a reputed saint ; and when
a good action is almost condemned, because it is
assumed, that a political or religious opponent must
be in league with the spirits of darkness.

Of the Reformation, the history has been written
by Puritans, by Roman Catholics, by infidels under the
garb of philosophers. These all profess to be one-sided ;
and for one-sided publications the demand in the literary
market is met because it is made. It is well known, that
a Protestant will not, as a general rule, read a history
of the Reformation written by a Roman Catholic ; nor

other ancient Uses of the English Church — was adopted and sub-
scribed by the clergy of both Houses of Convocation, and of both
provinces of the Church. A copy of the new Prayer-book, with the
Great Seal attached, was delivered, with a royal message, to Parlia-
ment on the 25th of February, 1662. The Bill of Uniformity
having passed the Lords on the 9th of April, received the royal
assent on the 19th of ^lay, and thus became part of the law of
the land.— Kenny's Register, 584, 585 ; Syn. Ang. 94, 96.

VOL. vi. L

146 LIVES OF THE

will a Roman Catholic read a history written by a Pro-
__X, testant. The history of an avowed unbeliever, — of
Intorv"C" Hume for instance, — may be sometimes read, under
the notion, that he who disbelieves all religion must
lie partial to none ; but we find that, from the days of
Julian to the present hour, no fanaticism can, in its
calm malignity, equal the fanaticism of infidelity.

The difficulty, indeed, of attempting to write a his-
tory of the Reformation in the reign of Henry VIII. is
peculiarly great from the want of materials. A laudable
diligence has been shown by Collier, Burnet, and Strype,
in collecting records and other public documents; much,
however, in this direction, remains to be accomplished.
But when all shall have been done, the difficulty will
not be surmounted in what relates to this reign, until
further light shall have been thrown upon its history,
by revelations to be made from the private correspond-
ence of foreign ambassadors to their several courts.
Much important information has been obtained from
the Simancas papers, deciphered by the incredible
industry, and illustrated by the learned sagacity, of
Mr. Bergenroth. The difficulty of doing justice to all
persons and parties in this reign is enhanced by that
wilful destruction of papers of deep historical import-
tance, of which mention has been made before.

Much is left open to conjecture, when we would
seek to account for actions thus purposely involved in
mystery; the removal of the mystery would involve the
king and government in disgrace. We are dependent,
too often, 011 the inconclusive arguments of partisans
on either side. Each arrives at the conclusion he has
previously determined to deduce, by adding his surmises
to the few indisputable facts of which we are in posses-
sion. The documents and accounts, moreover, which
are not destroyed have received a treatment with which

ARCHBISHOPS OF CAXTEBBURY. 147

modern dishonesty has made us familiar, and which :=>
descrilx-d by an inelegant but expressive term, when we
venture to -peak of them as having been " cooked."' The
preambles to acts of parliament were dictated by Henry
himself, who, in the spirit of Augustus, desired to rule
as a despot, under the forms of a free constitution.
Henry VIII. would indulge his passions, his avarice,
or his lust, under the semblance of designing what was
right. In an uncritical age, the spirit of t:. -:itu-
tion might be violated with impunity, if the letter of
the law was observed ; and through the letter of the
law every man's lilxrty was subjected to the capri«
the king. Although Burnet and Strype as well as Collier
supply a large mass of materials for histo: 3 rrype is

often inaccurate in L: ; iptions ; and Buraet seems

very frequently not to have read what h:

red to trans<-ril -. Bale and Foxe w> pted by

them as primary authorities ; and ii

3 by the public records, they too generally
adopted their statements without further investigate n :
tht-y p,-i>sed over with a slight notice, or with no notice
at all, the documents which would, if duly examined,
have convicted them of misrepresentation.* The state-
ments of Foxe and Bale have become the basis of
Protestant historians of this period ; for to all the
writers with whom I am acquainted, Burnet is the
chief authority.

* Burnet has found an editor in Mr. Pocock, whose superiority
to the bishop has rendered his acceptance of the editor's office
a condescension. He has been careful not to do injustice to Burnet ;
"but has corrected many of his errors in point of learning. Strype's
works have been reprinted at the University of Oxford, but it can
scarcely be said, that they have been edited. To him the grateful
acknowledgments of every student • f history are due. Xo one
ever laboured more diligently to collect the material for hL-t
he was a collector of records, not an historian.

L 2

148 LIVES OF THE

Protestants complain with justice of Sanders, who
stands in the same relation to the Roman Catholic
IntoryUC" wr^ers, as Foxe does to the Protestant? Sanders was
the purveyor of the filthy scandals of the age, and it
is not too much to say, that of some he was the author.
Of him it was said, " he lied, and he knew that he'
lied." But they who would throw the stone at Sanders,
must not forget the amount of glass of which their
own house is composed. For the character of Foxe I
will refer not to a Roman Catholic, but to the scholar
most competent, from his deep researches into the
public records, to form an opinion upon the subject.
" Had the Matyrologist," says Professor Brewer, " been
an honest man, his carelessness and. credulity would
have incapacitated him from being a trustworthy his-
torian. Unfortunately he was not honest. He tampered
with the documents that came to his hands, and freely
indulged in those very faults of suppression for which
he condemned his opponents."*

Of the other great authority of Burnet and his
followers, Bishop Bale, Henry Wharton said : " I know
Bale to have been such a liar, that I am unwilling to
take anything on his credit."

The case is scarcely improved when, proceeding to
the next century, we have to consider the struggle
between the Church and Puritanism for supremacy.
It seems, that an unimpassioned history of the Great

* Pref. to Letters and Papers, Henry VIII. p. 30. Some years ago
I had occasion to consult the Rev. Dr.Maitland, the learned librarian
of Lambeth, on the amount of credit I might give to a statement
made by Foxe. His answer was, " You may regard Foxe as being
about as trustworthy as the Record newspaper. You must not
believe either, when they speak of an opponent ; for, though pro-
fessing Protestantism, they are innocent of Christian charity. You
may accept the documents they print ; but certainly not without
collation. Foxe forgot, if he ever knew, who is the father of lies."

ARCHBISHOPS OF < 'AXTERBURY. 1 4 f>

Bebellion, as it is called, cannot even yet be expected CHAP.
from an English pen. Those who pretend to impar-
tiality are swayed, unconsciously, to the one side or
the other by the current of public opinion. At one
period, too much evil could not be said against the
Protector ; and Charles I, with all IILS faults, was
regarded as a saint. In an age when republican
sentiments are predominant, the faults of the Pro-
tector are forgotten or explained away, and he is
canonized ; while the enthusiasm of loyalty having
ne faint, the virtues of Charles are no longer
permitted to excite compassion for his sufferings.
Jhe enthusiasm of the present generation is easily
excited in behalf of those who contended for the
liberty of the subject : but the prejudices are not to
be despised of the gallant spirits who fought for the
royal prerogative. Both were right, and both were
wrong ; between the struggles of the two, liberty
; -revented from degenerating into licence : and a
warning, as well as an example, is set to those who
rightly hold the great truth, that governments are
to be so administered as to produce the grer
amount of good to the greatest number of per-
sons,— real good being always in close contact with
the laws of God.

The only author between the reigns of Henry VIII.
and Charles II. who has really laboured to deal equal
justice to all parties, is Jeremy Collier, the Xonjuring
Bishop. But indebted as we are, for his researches, to
Collier, we must admit, that he was more laborious in
collecting than skilful in arranging his materials ; he
lived in an uncritical age, and his quotations must
be compared with their context before we can, at
all times, subscribe to his conclusions. Without any
tendency to Eomanism, Collier laboured to do justice

150

LIVES OF THE

Introduc-
tory.

CHAP, to the opponents as well as to the advocates of

_J_, reformation.

He has avoided one great error of Protestant
historians, especially of those who have written in
the interests of the Church of England. Among
such persons, there is apparent an eagerness, which
is sometimes amusing, to select some one or more
of the personages connected with the Reformation, in
order to canonize him as a saint, or to immortalize as
a hero. It must be admitted, that in their attempts
they have miserably failed. In vain do we look in the
annals of our country for a hero like Martin Luther,
full of earnestness, fervour, enthusiasm, courage ;
dauntless, decided, resolute ; the man of the people.
We look in vain for a theologian like John Calvin ;
systematic, accurate, severe ; whose mighty mind,
fired by contact with the spirit of St. Augustine, has
left its impress on the Protestant world ; and has
compelled men, unconsciously, to accept and to pro-
pagate, in essentials, much of the scholastic doctrine.
\\Y cannot even point to any one who approaches to
Melancthon or Zuingle, the man of deep thought,
and the man of wild enthusiasm.

In the writings of our early Reformers, which have-
lately been published, we search in vain for

<: Thoughts that breathe, and words that burn."

We desiderate in all the fervida vis of genius.
As regards their learning, it is chiefly that which,
in the exigencies of a controversy and for the main-
tenance of a cause, they were obliged to acquire.*

* A few years ago, for party purposes, the writings of those who
took an active part in the early reformation of the Church of Eng-
land were published b}" the Parker Society ; and, for^ the most part,
they were carefully edited. ]>ut if the object was to magnify the

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY.

Our early Reformers were men of sound common CHAP
use, pious, judicious; as reformers, they were cautious
almost to timidity; they felt their way step 1 >y step ; now ininxiu
advancing. th-ii receding, and at last making firm their
position. They were true-hearted Englishmen, attached
to our constitution in Church or State. Seeing that
both required a reformation, they commenced with the
Church ; a reformation of the Church was sanctioned
by the king ; it would have been death to deal with
state affairs. As was natural, they were not unin-
fluenced by the spirit of the age ; and — from a defer-
ence, natural but to be lamented also, to the illustrious
men who wore revolutionizing religion in Germany and
itzerland, — they were led occasionally into incon-
sistencies Th'-y were, however, soon brought back to
("inmon sense by the master minds and stern resolve
of Henry and of Elizabeth. These monarchs, with all
their faults, weiv patriots loyal to their country ; they
determined that England should lead, and not be led.
To Henry and Elizabeth the Church of England is
deeply indebted ; for they compelled our reforming
divines to conduct the Reformation on those principl-
by which the English have ever been distinguished and

Reformers, the result has been a failure. It has been well observed,
that none of these writers would now be quoted as an authority
in auy great question of philology, of philosophy, of ecclesiastical
history, or even of theology, except Archbishop Parker's Antiqui-
tatos, which, on the principle of the play of Hamlet with the
character of Hamlet omitted, the Parker Society did not publish.
The works of Cranmer have been separately printed, and are of
great value to those who study the progress of our Reformation.
But Cranmer was a lawyer rather than a theologian. He decided
by common sense, and then looked out for precedents to silence
opponents. The works are never interesting of a man who has to
read up to his subject. The well-fraught mind conies down upon
its subject, and makes even its unconscious plagiarisms its own,
by the genius it has ir.fus-.d into them.

15-2 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, guided. We know that miraculous inspiration has
_J_ ceased. Nevertheless, under the ordinary operations of
IUToryUC Providence, we speak of men being inspired; as society
is only an aggregate of individuals we may therefore,
without presumption, trace to the merciful ordering
of God that strong common sense, which has induced
the English people, at all times, to postpone the theo-
retical to the practical. Like the attractions and re-
pulsions in electricity, there have been, throughout our
history, two principles, co-operating though opposing ;
and productive, in their joint operation, of motion and
powerful action. We have ever moved on by con-
cessions and compromises made to the principle of
progress by the conservative principle ; and by similar
concessions to the conservative principle by those who
are animated to enthusiasm by theoretical notions of
perfection. There is something conservative- in our
man of progress ; there is a desire of progress in our
most timid conservative. The one is applauded when
he says "Festina;" the other is not unheeded when
he adds " Lente."

Occasionally the rupture has been serious, prolonged
and violent ; and, by a spirit of unchecked intolerance
and persecution, either party has been disgraced. When
the passions have yielded to reason, it has been seen
that the practical man will aim not at the best,
considered abstractly, but at the best according to
circumstances.

The practical aim was that which our Reformers pro-
posed ; they were opposed by the Puritans, the men of
theory. The Puritans, taking the great Reformers of
the Continent for their masters, and adverting to their
systems as models, nobly sought, as their name denotes,
the highest theoretical perfection. They sought in a
sect, what they could not realize in a Church ; and,

ARCHBISHOPS .OF CANTERBURY. 153

when toleration was unknown, their endeavour was to CHAP.

displace the old Church and to establish Calvinism. _^1_

This is not the place to attack, to defend, or to Introduc

. . tory.

palliate the proceedings or the tenets of this great and
influential party. Among the Puritans were men of
piety equal to that of our own divines ; eminent for
their learning and their devotion to the sendee of
their Saviour and their God. To them, to their exer-
tions, and to their sufferings, the country is indebted
for many enduring benefits. But while we give
to them the honour which is their due, we may be
permitted to regard with complacency, the position
of the English Church. That Church is to us an
inheritance which we cherish, and a blessing for

which we are devoutly grateful. We sympathise
with the mighty men of genius who manfully con-
tended on the Continent, against the superstitions of
the Church, and the corruptions of their age ; but,
when we compare results, to the fire of genius w«-
prefer the sober-mindedness, the sound judgment, the
'•aution, by which our own divines were enabled
to retain what they had received, and to hand down
to us what was transmitted to them — the Church of
Augustine and even of the ancient Britons before him :
not made new, but reformed. We admit the weak-
ness of the agents, only that we may adore with
gratitude, the mighty hand and the outstretched arm
of Jehovah : —

"Pater amisso fluitantem errare magistro
Sensit, et ipse ratem nocturnis rexit in undis."

To the Lutherans Luther is an authority ; and if
they differ from his doctrine, Lutherans they cease to
be. The Calvinist forfeits the title of which he is
proud, if to the conclusions of his master's great

154 LIVES OF THE

mind he demurs. -Of our Church the foundation was
laid, not by any Kefornier, but by Augustine. Our
Rcf°rmation was not a beginning, it was a turning-
point in the history of the Church of England.* We
have a Church reformed by the joint action of the
Convocation, the Crown, and the Parliament. By
the co-operation of these still existing authorities, the
work of 1662 may be resumed; and measures may
be adopted, if need shall be, to meet the require-
ments of a ne\v generation and the exigencies of an
altered age. The Church is like a ship at anchor ;
to the full length of the cable the vessel may swing
with the tide. A certain latitude is allowed in the
Church to opinions and practices, so long as it con-
tinues anchored to the Eock of Ages. We assert,
that further improvements may, from time to time,
1 >e necessary ; we only say, that they must be con-
formable to the principles of the Church universal.
To deny this right of reform is to convert the Church
into a s-ji-t.

* It is thus that Mr. Freeman, from whom I borrow the expres-
sion, describes the Gorman Invasion, in a work which we hope to
fee developed into a complete History of England.

iiBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY.

M'TER II.

WILLIAM WAEHAM.

Educated a Wykehamist at Winchester and at New College.— His Career
at Oxford. — A Student of Law. — Practises in the Court of Arches. —
Diplomatic Employments. — An Account of Perkin WarbecL — Warham
attached to the Embassy to the Duke of Burgundy. — Principal of St.
Edmund's College, Oxford. — Consecrated Bishop of London. — Transla-
te Canterbury. — Appointed Lord Chancellor. — Splendour of the
ronization. — Enthronuation Feast at Oxford. — Appointed Lord
High Chancellor. — In favour with Henry VII. — Question relating to the
riage of Prince Henry with the Princess Katherine. — Light thrown
on the subject by the Simancas Papers. — Death of Henry VII. — Warhaiii
officiates at the Marriage of Henry VILL and the Lady Katheriue. —
Sponsor to their first Child. — His parliamentary Career. — Corruption of
the Church. — Condition of the Clergy. — Iniquities of the Ecclesiastical
Courts. — Warhanvs Attempts at Reform. — Warham assists to aid Henry
VIII. — Labours to effect Wolsey's Appointment as Cardinal and Legate
a lattre. — Amicable Relations between Warham and Wolsey. — Their
occasional Misunderstandings. — Warham's Retirement from Public Life.
— His Patronage of the Reformers before the Reformation. — His Conduct
uaucellor of Oxford. — The Reforms introduced at the University. —
An Account of the leading Literary Men of the Day, Friends of War-
bam. — Warham the Patron and Protector of Colet. — The intimate Friend
of Erasmus. — Erasmus in England. — Erasmus speaks of Warham as a
married Man. — Question of Warham's Marriage considered. — Royal
Divorce. — Wolsey sounds Warham on the Subject. — AVarham inclined,
though passive, to side with the King. — The Public first in favour of a
Divorce. — Indignation and Discontent when Announcement was made of
the King's intended Marriage with Anne Boleyn. — Wolsey in Disgrace. —
Cranmer and Crumwell secret Advisers of the King. — Royal Supremacy
mooted. — Account of Dr. Standish. — Matronage of England insulted by
the King's proposed Marriage with his Mistress. — Clergy vehement in
their Denunciation of the Marriage. — Pulpits silenced. — Henry deter-
mined to punish the Clergy. — Parliament of 1529. — Bills affecting the
_-y. — Clergy involved in the Penalties of Praemunire. — Convocation
of Canterbury. — Latimer's Recantation. — House of Commons attack the
Ordinaries. — Ordinaries as distinguished from Bishops. — Gardyner*s

.)(5 LIVES OF THE

Reply. — Royal Supremacy admitted by Convocation long before it was
asserted by Parliament. — Discussions on this Subject. — Warham's View
of it. — Submission of the Clergy. — Opposition in Convocation. — Con-
cessions on both sides. — Warham in favour with the King. — Prepares for
Death. — Last Illness. — His Disregard of Money. — Dies poor. — Obse-
quies.— Benefactions.

CHAP. THE family of Warham had, in the fifteenth century,

J^ been long settled at Walsanger, in the parish of Church

AViiiium Oakley, in the county of Southampton. In this parish,

1503-32. and we may presume at Walsanger, William, the

future Archbishop of Canterbury, was born about the

year 1450.*

At an early age he was sent to Winchester, and
became a Wykehamist. At this school, where
Chicheley had studied, and Waynflete had taught,
there wns no deficiency, at that early period, of the
prestige which, attached to an educational institution,
tends to the creation of a sentiment, of which in the

Authorities — Warham's Register at Lambeth. This register is
extremely well represented in Burnet and Wilkins. It is in itself
the worst kept of all the Lambeth Registers. Lord Calthorpe has
a volume written by the Registrar of Warham, and including
several documents that ought to be in Warham's and in Cran-
mer's Registers, especially some valuable extracts from the lost
records of Convocation. Bacon's Henry VII. ; Herbert's Henry
VIII. ; Hall ; Holinshed ; Fabyan ; Erasmi Opera ; Letters and
Papers of the Reigns of Richard III. and Henry VII. in the
Record Office, ed. Gairdner; Calendar of State Papers, Henry
VIII, ed. Brewer ; State Papers, ed. Lemon ; Calendar of State
Papers in the Archives of Simancas and elsewhere, ed. Bergenroth ;
Collections in Append, to Fiddes' Life of Wolsey ; Original Letters
published by Sir Henry Ellis, reprinted with additions in - the
Archseol. Cantiana.

*In a letter of Erasmus, Jortin, i. 492, it is stated that Warham
was fourscore years old in 1530. He is described in a letter of
Henry VII. of 1531, "as being above fourscore years." State
Papers, vii. 311. According to Wood, his father's name was
Robert. Athenae, iii. 738.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 157

formation of character, Dr. Arnold, himself a Wyke- CHAP.
hamist, asserted the importance. In choosing a site ~~
for his new foundation, William of Wykeham had ^h*™.
selected a spot in which the youthful Wykehamist 1503-32.
would make a boast that no less a personage than
King Alfred had pursued his studies ; and, under the
influence of the Renaissance, young Warham may

contended, that, in the time of the Romans, here
-I a temple of Apollo.

•in Winche>ter, Warham was elected to a scholar-
ship m New College, where in due course he became
it fellow in 1475. To the rules of his college he
.ily adh'-ivd. He kept neither ferrets, nor hawks,
nor dogs of chase. He was nev.-r .-••• -n with a sT
with da its, or with bow and arrow in his hand,
things were not permitted: he was prohibited,

•I, from carrying a sword or knife, or any weapon

whatever of offence or defence. Ho ivt'u-i d to play at

hazard. In cold weather he availed himself

of the permission given by the founder to wear a cloak

or Burcoat, "i- even a military coat, so long as attention

•aid to what was decent and decorous. No par-
ticular college dress was at this time adopted ; each
student wa< permitted, according to his taste or con-
venience, to wear a cape, or a chimere, or any long
mantle reaching to the feet. He was, however, warned
against foppery ; and the wearing of green or red
boots, or " pick-toed shoes," or knotted hoods, was
expressly forbidden. The scholars of New College
were also warned against pedantry : they were indeed
to converse among themselves in the Latin language,
but among strangers they were to use the vernacular.
Then, as now, the tutorial system prevailed in the
colleges ; but young men were expected to remain
longer at the University, in order that they might
profit by the public lectures delivered for the instruc-

158 LIVES O? THE

CHAP, tion of advanced scholars by the professors in the
^~^~ several faculties. The students were chiefly confined
Warham *° co^cgc lectures during the first two years of their
1503-32. residence at the University, and the lectures given in.
New College were a continuation of the lessons to
which Warham had been accustomed at Winchester.
The trivium remained as the basis of primary instruc-
tion ; but it was a basis much enlarged by the altered
circumstances of the times. Grammar, rhetoric, and
dialectics were the three arts of the trivium. But
grammar had now an extended reference to philology in
uvncrnl, and to the Humaniores Liters. The Renais-
sance had inspired a taste for classical literature ; and
if Greek were not yet regarded as a sine qud non in
the University examinations, it was certainly required
at New College, and we may presume at King's
College, Cambridge. It is especially stated that at
New College, (/reek was taught daily.* Both at
Winchester and Eton it was studied, and these, the
only Public schools then in existence, adopted the
same grammar.

To perfect the boys in Latin grammar, practice
in versification had been already adopted ; but this,
together with the study of poetry and history, was
reo-arded as connected with lectures in rhetoric.

Dialectic branched out into the whole of philosophy,
and thus enabled the trivium to merge impercep-
tibly into the quadrivium, which embraced arith-

* Of the studies of the Universities I shall have occasion to
speak hereafter. I will only here remark, that William of
Wykeham required the study of the three languages, Latin, Greek,
and Hebrew, at his school, foreseeing that education by language
would supersede education by philosophy. Greek, however, did
not enter into the curriculum of the studies of the Universities
until the sixteenth century. It was, as Hebrew is now, an optional
study.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 159

metic, geometry, astronomy, and mu.sk- regarded as CHAP.
a science. ^

AYarham was expected to rise at five, when the ^Jf*™
chapel bell summoned him to prayer. The morning ]. 503-02.
was devoted to study. He dined in the common
hall ; and during dinner a portion of Scripture was
ivad by the Bible clerk. The afternoon was given
to recreation, until the college bell sounded, at
nine in summer and at eight in winter. The gates
were then closed, and the studious resumed their
labours."

At the expiration <>!' two years, AVarham passed
from the tutor's room to the hall of the public
profe-sor. Having devoted himself to the course
marked out in the quadrivium, and to the studies of
tli'- University, he presented himself, in the chivalrous
spirit which was now expiring, as a candidate for
literary knighthood, by appearing in the public schools,
there to defend ecrtaiu theses against all comers. He
maintained his position, and became a Bachelor «»f
Arts — a Bas-chevalicr, <>r knight of low degree.

A .Muster of Arts having received gratuitous in-
striietion at New College, was expected to repay tin;
lienevoleiiee .if the founder by remaining for some

•rs at the University, there to act as the gratuitous

-: rue tor of others. This indeed had been, as in a

former volume we had occasion to show, the duty

originally of .-very oTaduate. As a Master of Arts, his

instructions were confined to the rniversity : but upon

vino- his doctor's degree, eon furred after examina-

* These statements are made on the authority of Pits de rd>a.<
Anylia's, and more particularly of some valuable documents pre-
served in Winchester College, of which a judicious selection was
made and arranged, with his usual sound judgment, by the late
Mr. Gunner, and printed in the Archaeological Journal. See also
Wykfkam and his Colly?*, by Mr. Mackenzie Walcott.

100 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, tion, he had a licence to teach anywhere. Warham is

— ~ said to have lectured two years on philosophy, on

Warham. Aristotle, and on St. Augustine. There were transla-

1503-32. tions of Aristotle as well as of Plato, but the study of

Greek literature was not so far advanced as to justify

us in supposing that by lecturing on Aristotle we

are to understand more than lectures on the great

Commentary of Averroes — or Aristotle diluted through

his Arabian commentator, until almost everything

Aristotelian was lost.

William Warham was sensible of the advantages
he derived from the wise benevolence of William of
Wykeham ; and in after life he proved his gratitude
by liberal benefactions to the two St. Mary Winton
Colleges.*

While he was yet at Oxford, Warham commenced
the study of law, and having become a Doctor of
Laws, he repaired to London in 1488. He practised
with considerable ability as a lawyer in the Court
of Arches ; but at the same time he continued to
take a lively interest in all that related to the affairs
of the University.

The date of Wai-ham's ordination is uncertain.
Among the names of persons ordained by Bishop
Smyth, at Lichfield, September 21, 1493, that of
William Warram occurs, as having been ordained sub-
deacon under letters of dimission from the Bishop of

* To Winchester lie gave hangings for the hall ; and the arras in
the Audit Boom emblazoned with arms and sacred emblems. The
doorways and the screen in the Refectory at New College were also
his gift. He presented the College with silver plate, weighing 144
ounces ; and a messuage or land in King's Clere. At his death he
bequeathed his theological books to All Souls College ; his books
on Church music to Winchester ; and his collections on civil and
canon law, together with the Greek works which he had purchased
from the Greek refugees, who on flying from Constantinople had
found a refuge in England.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 161

Hereford.* Mr. Churton, with some hesitation, iden- CHAP.
tifies this person with our Archbishop. All that can _ :'_
be said is, that this is not inconsistent with the known -^^
dates of Warham's preferments. It is said that before 1503-32.
he vacated his fellowship, he had accepted a living
from his college, and was incumbent of Horwood
Magna, in the county of Lincoln.

He certainly held the rector}' of Barley, in Hertford-
shire ; but there is considerable difficulty hi assigning
the proper dates to his early preferments. He was
non-resident, but he met the claims upon his purse
with liberality, and occasionally visited his parishioners.
So long as he was represented by a pious curate, the
people did not complain, the duty wa.s duly per-
formed, and, through the increasing wealth of their
rector and his iutn-e.st in high (quarters, the parishioners
were benefited and enriched. t

The abilities of the young lawyer attracted the
notice of Archbishop Morton ; and through Morton
the merits of \ua protege became known to Henry VII.
Learned, accomplished, discreet, and active, Warham was
the kind of man whom Henry VII. delighted to honour
and employ. He was one of that large class of persons
who, in quiet times, rise to eminence, not on account

* Life of Smyth, p. 217.

t We are informed by "Weever, 547, that in his time, the early
part of the 17th century, there was a window in the church of
Barley in which was visible the following inscription : — Grate pro
salubri static Domini Willelmi Warliam, Legum Doctoris et Pauli
London Canonici, Magistri Rotulorum, Cancellarii Regis etRcctoris
df Barley. He was Master of the Rolls from the 13th of February,
1494, to 1502. See also Hasted, 343, and Wood, Athena-, ii. 740.
Hasted mentions Warham as Chancellor of Wells, in 1493. His
name appears in Le Xeve, not as Chancellor but as Praecentor.
Hardy's Le Xeve, i. 171. There is no tradition of Warham in the
parish of Barley, and I am informed by the present Rector, the
Rev. Robert Gordon, that of the window mentioned by Weever no
trace remains.

VOL. VI. M

162 LIVES OP THE

CHAP. Of any transcendent merits, but from an absence of dis-
— ~- qualifications and faults. Warham did nothing great ;

William / , i . .

Warham. out ne was never known to do anything conspicuously
1503-32. wrong. He was moderate in all things, whether we
look to his intellectual or his moral character. If he
had not genius to originate a wise measure, he had
sagacity to see and to applaud its wisdom, when it was
once proposed.

It was the policy of Henry VII. to restrain, while
employing, the energy of genius. He was accustomed
to associate the impetuous man of action with a coun-
sellor sympathising but cautious. When, in 1493, Sir
Henry Poynings was sent to Ireland, he was attended
by Bishop Dean. "When the same ambassador was
accredited to the Court of Burgundy, Dr. Warham was
his legal adviser. While, through Poynings, it was
made evident that the King of England was not to
be trifled with, it was shown by Dr. Warhani that
their royal master was amenable to reason.

The embassy on which Warham was now engaged
had reference to one of the most extraordinary of
events or impostures that has ever appeared on the page
of history. By the historians of the last century
Perkin Warbeck was regarded as a vulgar impostor ;
and that he was an impostor is the general opinion at
the present time. In the fifteenth century, however,
an opinion was more generally prevalent than openly
avowed, that Perkin Warbeck was what he pretended
to be — the Duke of York ; who, when his brother,
King Edward V, was murdered in the Tower, con-
trived to make his escape. The vulgar and uneducated
are always willing to believe the tale of an impostor,
who represents himself as deprived of his rights ; and
the arguments on the opposite side are met with
this sage assertion, that the weakest always goes to
the will But in the case of Warbeck, his supporters

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 163

were to be found in the upper classes of society; CHAT.

among those who are least likely to tolerate an L,

intruder into their ranks. "While statesmen hostile ^£j^
to Henry were searching in vain for facts and docu- 1503-32.
ments to substantiate AYarbeck's claim to the English
crown, he was winning the courtiers by his royal
bearing, and fascinating the ladies by his agreeable
manners. To those who had never seen a prince he
appeared exactly what a prince ought to be ; to the
imagination he was " every inch a king." His moral
character, barring the fact of his being a living lie,
irreproachable; and this is the more creditable,
as he was placed in those circumstances of peculiar
temptation, under which kings and princes too gene-
rally fail There is a love letter among the archives
of Simancas which is said to be his, and which it is
scarcely possible to attribute to any one else ; and after
its perusal we cease to wonder at the statement, that
the Lady Katherine Gordon gave to him not only her
hand but her heart, and was ready to follow him to
prison or to death. \\V can understand how the
writer of such a letter, thrown into the society of
James IV. of Scotland, should have kindled into
enthusiasm the friendship with which the king had
honoured him, and which induced him, in maintaining
his cause, to set all political considerations aside.
Among his contemporaries, James was not likely to
find a disposition as refined and chivalrous, as that
by which Perkin AVarbeck was distinguished. There
can be little doubt, indeed, that, besides the King of
Scotland, — the Pope, the King of the Eomans, the
King of France, the Archduke Philip, the Duke of
Savoy, and the King of Denmark, all believed, though
they were not all prepared to assert, that Perkin
Warbeck was the veritable Duke of York. From
the secret documents discovered at Simancas, and

M 2

164 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, on the authority of which these statements have
_^O been made, it is plain that even Ferdinand and
Walham. Isabella, when they refused to recognise him as the
1503-32. son of King Edward IV, were influenced, not by
their convictions, but by political considerations and
for the furtherance of their private ends. Under
these circumstances, we are not surprised to find
that, at the present time, there are learned men
who, without any peculiar inclination to paradox,
are disposed to regard Perkin Warbeck as anything
but an impostor. Suspicion, however, must always
attach to the statements of one, whose antecedents
being unknown, makes his appearance abruptly in
history, at the precise time when his appearance is,
for political intrigue, peculiarly opportune. By most
persons the case will be decided against Warbeck
from the fact, that of his early life we possess no
history, except the very probable story which, in his
confession, he himself gives, — and which is, in fact, his
condemnation. If the Duke of York escaped from the
Tower, it would have been under circumstances which
would give the escape all the interest of romance ; and
if he could not himself remember the details, yet his
deliverer would hardly have been silent. It remained
for the advocates of Perkin Warbeck, by stating the
circumstances of his early protection and education,
to contradict the statement on the subject which, in
his confession to Henry VII, was made by Perkin
himself. It was not sufficient to say he confessed
under intimidation, but a counter-statement, such as
would have borne investigation, ought to have been
made. Those who, at the peril of their lives, had
offered an asylum to the pretender to the throne of
England, were not likely to have been silent specta-
tors of the royal honours of their protege ; but in the
patronage which royalty extended to Warbeck, they

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 165

would have expected to have their share ; yet of CHAP.
those who, at the peril of their own lives, saved that _^^
of the supposititious Duke of York, no mention is ^Jjjj™
made. 1503-32.

Perkin "Warbeck had certainly been an apt scholar of
Margaret, duchess dowager of Burgundy ; and she was
liis partisan, not from love of the youth himself, but
out of intense hatred of the house of Tudor. Other
princes pitied him, and sometimes, in secret, assisted
him, under the impression that, although they were
mi willing or unable to support his cause, he was a
poor and persecuted prince. The Duchess Margaret
must have known the circumstances of Warbeek's early
life. He must have told her what he afterwards con-
l to Henry ; and the prudence which dictated
silence, if it practically answered her purpose among
her contemporaries, has eventually become his con-
demnation. At tin- time of Wai-hum's mission to the
court of Burgundy she was intriguing in Warbeck's
behalf.

Perkin Warbeck had been received by the court of
France with the honours due to the Duke of York ;
but, in the treaty between the English and French
kings in 1492, it had been stipulated, that the adven-
turer should be extruded from the French territory.
Warbeck then found a home with his reputed aunt, the
duchess dowager of Burgundy. The duchess, through
her political intrigues with the Archduke of Austria,
and with Maximilian, king of the Romans, obtained
their secret connivance at the measures taken by War-
beck to raise an army for the invasion of England ; and
he was permitted to make Flanders the rendezvous.
Through the merchants of Flanders, she opened com-
munications with the merchants of London, among
whom pleasant memories still lingered of Edward IV.
These proceedings did not escape the vigilance of

166 LIVES OP THE

Henry VII, who was firm, politic, and cautious.
The party in England favourable to Warbeck was,
Wwhiaa as we nave before remarked, always small. The
1503-32. rising middle class were not willing to be engaged
again in a dynastic war. The few individuals among
the merchants who might show symptoms of dis-
content were, without a leader, powerless. To pre-
vent any ambitious nobleman from appearing on the
stage at this crisis, Henry, through his treatment of
Sir William Stanley, warned the aristocracy, that
the slightest indication of sympathy with Warbeck
would obliterate the remembrance of all past services
from the stony heart of a Tudor.* To the merchants
of Flanders a significant hint was to be given : so
far as they were concerned, subservience to the
court of the duchess would be ruin to the warehouse.
To the court of the reigning duke the embassy was
despatched, which has rendered it necessary to re-
call these facts to the memory of the reader. The
government was to be addressed ; but it was upon the
merchants that the arguments were to be made to tell.
Warham was to be the spokesman, and he is thus
described by Hall, " Sir William Warram, doctor of
laws, a man of great learning, modesty, and gravity."
A better description could not have been given of a
clever man of second-rate abilities ; a man not, of
course, to be compared with Wolsey, but one of the
most acute of those whose talents are at the command
of a master mind, and able to do its will.

When an audience was granted to the embassy by
the reigning duke, a speech was made by Warham.
Whether the speech which has been handed down to

* I have not discovered any document which throws light on
the extraordinary conduct of Henry VII. to this nobleman, to whom
he was under such deep obligations. Something must have occurred
which remains to be discovered.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 167

us by Lord Bacon, as delivered by Warham, is the -CHAP.

speech that he actually made is more than doubtful ; !_

but it can scarcely be doubted, that it was manipulated ^ijjJJ"
into its present form from arguments which AYarham 1503-32.
adduced on the occasion. He argues on the absurdity
of supposing Duke Perkin, as he calls him, to be the
veritable Duke of York. He might produce docu-
ments to prove the certainty of the duke's death ; but
as these documents would be supplied by the King of
England, his master, they might be regarded with
suspicion. Without relying upon them, therefore
ae would argue the case. His argument chiefly
nsts on the absurdity of supposing that, when King
Richard determined to murder his nephews, he
should employ men whom he could not trust ; or
tint men entrusted with the horrible work should
leave their work half done. The only remarkable
pojit is the conclusion, and this is remarkable for
the coarseness of the wit, evincing the coarseness of
the age. " Admit," he says, " that the agents of
Richard had saved the Duke of York : what could
theyr have done ? If they turned him out into the
streets of London, any watchman, or the passers-by,
would have taken him before a magistrate, and all
would have been known. To have concealed him would
have required an amount of caution and care of which
it would be easy to adduce the proof, if proof there
were." He represented the whole story as a romance,
and said that the king would supply the materials if any
poet were willing to sing the adventures of the youth.
Then he traced the whole plot to the malice of the
Lady Margaret, and, accusing her of having abetted
Lambert Simnel, he says that " it is the strangest thing
in the world that she, now stricken in years, should
bring forth two such monsters, being not a birth of nine
or ten months, but of many years. And whereas other

168 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, natural mothers bring forth children weak, and not able
— v^_ to help themselves; she bringeth forth tall striplings,

soon a^er their coming into the world, to give
1 503-32. battle to mighty kings." " My lords, we stay unwillingly
upon this part. We would to God that lady would
once taste the joys which God Almighty doth serve up
unto her, in beholding her niece to reign in such
honour, and with so much royal issue which she might
be pleased to account as her own. The king's request
unto the archduke and your lordships might be, that,
according to the example of King Charles, who hath
already discarded him, you would banish this un-
worthy fellow out of your dominions. But because
the king may justly expect more from an ancient
confederate than from a new reconciled enemy, he
maketh his request unto you to deliver him up into
his hands ; pirates and impostors of this sort were fit
to be accounted the common enemies of mankind, and
no ways to be protected by the laws of nations."*

This is what Hall denominates a pleasant and lucu-
lent oration. It certainly gave satisfaction to Henry
VII. Although the negotiations with the Burgundians
were so far a failure, that it became necessary to have
recourse to measures more stringent, yet from this tirae
to the end of the reign of Henry VII. Warham re-
tained the king's favour, and was frequently employed.

Warham obtained the precentorship of Wells on
the 2d of November, 1493. He was already a
statesman and lawyer; he was soon to be a judge.
When not engaged on foreign missions, his attendance
at the Council board was necessary, and he could
not therefore discharge the duties of the precentor's
office, which had now become, what it was destined

* Lord Bacon's Life of Henry VII. ; Ivennet, ii. 609 ; and Hall's
Chronicle, 465, 466. Hall gives the substance of the speech,
which accords with Bacon's more elaborate report.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 169

to remain, a sinecure. It was a benefice some- .CHAP.
times highly endowed ; but the duties were per- _^_
formed by a succentor appointed by the chapter under -^^^
whose direction the choir remained. On the 13th 1503-3-2.
of February, VTarham became Master of the Rolls,
and the duties of this high office he continued
to discharge for eight years. He bad at the same
time a seat at the Council board. On the 28th of
April, 1496, he was collated to the Archdeaconry of
Huntingdon. Here again, the duties of an archdeacon
being at that time chiefly judicial, he must have dis-
charged them by deputy. AVe are not, however, to
judge of him by modern notions. The feeling
still what we have seen it to be before, that the claim
upon the beneficiary was not of necessity to perform
the duties of the office himself ; but to take care that
the duties were well performed by a competent deputy,
while the income enabled the dignitary to serve the
Church, or the king, in some other office of a higher
though less remunerative character. He was now
engaged in various diplomatic employments. I trace
him, indeed, in most of the important State papers of
the time, though bearing a subordinate part. On the
5th of March, 1496, he is named as one of the commis-
sioners empowered to treat with De Puebla about the
marriage between Prince Arthur and Katherine of
Arragon.* In 1499, he was at Calais with the Bishop
of Rochester (Fitz James) and Sir R. Hatton, negotiat-
ing a treaty with the Archduke Philip, relating to the
export of wool. f In 1501, he was associated with Sir
Charles Somerset, vice-chamberlain to the king, in a
mission to Maximilian, king of the Romans, which
had for its object a renewal of a league with England,
and the banishment of English rebels from the im-

* Calendar of State Papers at Simancas and elsewhere, 187.
f Letters of Henry VII. i. 425.

170 LIVES OF THE

perial dominions. In the account of the proceedings
it is stated, that, in testimony of renewed good will
on *ne Par^ °^ ^e King of the Romans towards the
1503-32. King of England, the former would consent to wear
the Garter, as formerly, on condition, that Henry and
his son the Prince of Wales would undertake to wear
the Toison d'Or. Although King Henry had refused
to grant any collection of money to be made in
England in favour of a crusade, when the request
was made by the pope ; yet it was now intimated, that
perhaps he might accede to the request if it were urged
by Maximilian. With respect to the undertaking not
to harbour rebels, Maximilian was willing to bind
himself and the lands of his inheritance ; but he
affirmed that he had no power to ; bind the empire.
For the unfortunate Edmund de la Pole, the imperial
commissioners were directed to intercede.*

In another attempt to bring Maximilian to terms
with the English Government, Warham was again, in
the year 1502, associated with Somerset. The ambas-
sadors were detained five weeks at Antwerp, where
they were not treated with much courtesy by the
imperial commissioners ; neither did they come to
satisfactory agreement, f

In proof that the system of acting by deputy, when
a principal was conscientious, did not always, or of
necessity, prove detrimental to the Church, we have
an instance in the history of Warham. He had
been appointed, as we have been reminded, prin-
cipal or moderator of a hall, called St. Edward's or
Civil Law Hall; and this hall soon ranked first

* Letters and Papers of the Eeigns of Richard III. and Henry
VII. i. 152, 161, 167, 169, 176. To the historian these two
papers, the instructions given to Somerset and Warham, are full
of deep interest.

t Letters of Henry VII. ii. 106.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 171

among the colleges of Oxford. This was effected c^p"
bv Warham through a judicious selection of deputies,

iii-ii 11 William

or, as we should now style them, tutors, and by a warham.
system of inspection which involved all oversight of 1503-32.
the instruction and an examination of the pupils.
How much the hall was indebted to Warham is
proved by the fact that, when he resigned the office
of principal, the hall was deserted, and soon dwindled
into insignificance.*

The resignation of Dr. Warham was occasioned by
his nomination and election to the see of London,
rendered vacant by the translation of Dr. Savage to
the archbishopric of Yorkt The election took place
in October, 1501 ; he was not consecrated till the 25th
of September, 15024 The delay was owing pro-
bably to his absence on the embassy. Even then
there was some delay before he was settled in the

* Wood, Annals, i. GOL

| Thomas Savage was born at Macclesfield, of a knightly family,
the son of Sir John Savage, of Clifton. He was educated at Cam-
bridge, where he became Doctor of Laws. He was not a scholar
or a divine, but a courtier. It is stated that he was Canon of York
and Dean of the Chapel EoyaL But I do not find the appoint-
ments in Le Xeve or Hardy. He was engaged in temporal affairs
under Henry VII, but his chief delight was "in the sound of the
huntsman's horn and the braying of his hounds." He neglected
his episcopal duties, but according to Stowe, he lived in a splendid,
style, having many tall yeomen to form his body guard. On the
28th of April, 1493, he was consecrated to the see of Rochester.
On the 27th of October, 1496, he was translated to London, and in
February, 1501, he was translated to York. He presented a contrast
to Archbishop Warham, whose enthronization and subsequent feast
were of a most sumptuous description, whereas Savage was en-
throned by deputy, and for the first time broke through the old
custom of giving a feast. He died at Cawood, on the 2d of Sep-
tember, 1507, and was buried in the cathedraL According to
Godwin, he directed that his heart should be buried at ilacclesfield.
— Godwin; Drake ; Le Neve; Hardy; Stubbs.

J Stubbs, Reg. Sac. Anglic. 74.

172 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, see, for he did not receive the temporalities until the

^.^ October of the last-mentioned year.'""

Warham Honours and emoluments now flowed in rapidly and

1503-32. abundantly on William Warham. He was himself
aware, that his talents were overrated, and one of the
causes of his success in life was the care which he took
not to undertake more than he was able respectably
to perform. He had the talent to rise from the depth,
but, when he had reached the surface of the mighty
ocean, he drifted with the tide. He could not ride the
whirlwind or direct the storm ; and in troublous
times was simply the trident of Neptune when a
Neptune himself was required.

The Bishop of London, before he took possession of
the see, resigned the office of the Master of the Eolls.
He was beginning to feel weary of a statesman's life.
But when a man has obtained a high position, a
greater tax is frequently made upon his time and
mind than he had calculated upon paying. He ceases
to be his own master, and duties will by circumstances
be forced upon him, from the discharge of which he
would willingly be excused.

Bishop Warham had resigned the Mastership of the
Eolls on the 1st of February, 1502 ; but he was called
from the discharge of the episcopal duties, to which he
had intended to confine his attention, by the illness of
the Lord Keeper. Archbishop Dean, who held the
Great Seal, was, comparatively speaking, a young man,
and it was supposed that ere long he might resume
his duties ; Warham was therefore appointed Lord
Keeper on the llth of August. It was not for any
public officer, more especially for a person of Warham's
character, to refuse compliance to the proposal of a
Tudor; and Warham only regarded himself as the
locum tenens. But the unexpected death of Dean,

* Fcedera, x. iii. 21.

AECHBISHOP3 OF CANTERBURY. 173

within half a year of AVarham's appointment as Lord
Keeper, caused the great and final change in Warhara'fl
life. "\Varham received from the king the offer of the

0 r

primacy of All England ; and three days before his 150:3-32.
translation was effected, the title of Lord Keeper was
changed to that of Lord Chancellor.

Whatever forms were adopted, the appointments of
bishoprics were at that time vested in the king. The
cony-' was then, as now, accompanied by a

1 to the electors, requiring, in effect,
the convent of Christ Church in Canterbury to regard
the election as a mere form, and to elect without
ition the king's nominee. Its verbosity is very
remarkable. The petition to elect a successor to Arch-
bishop Dean having been granted, Henry adds : " AVr.
considering well the see to be one of much honour
and pre-eminence, by reason of the primacy thereof,
within this our realm, and being fully minded there-
fore, and for other causes us moving, to provide such
a substantial and discreet man, endued with virtue
cuit/ii/t'j rldbj a--- . is shall be meet there-

unto, and be able not only to execute the charge and
cure thereof, both spiritually and temporally, to God's
-lire and to the weal and honour of the said
Church, but also, besides that, to do unto us and our
realm good and acceptable service, have oft revolved
this matter in our mind and ripe remembrance, and
by good leisure and deliberation, beholding inwardly,
amongst all other, the profound cunning, virtuous
conversation, and approved great wisdom of the Eight
rend Father in God, our right trusty and well-
beloved counsellor, the Bishop of London, experi-
mentally is known to be of, have therefore, and for
his manifold virtuousness and merits, named him as
a person meet in our opinion to the aforesaid dignity;
willing you therefore to proceed in your election of the

174 LIVES OP THE

said reverend father, according to this our nomination,
whereunto we license you by these presents; not
Warham. doubting but that ye shall have in him such a spiritual
1503-32. pastor and governor as by his demeanour God shall be
singularly well pleased, we and our realm well served,
and your said Church honoured and advanced." *

The usual forms and ceremonies which were
adopted, as we have seen on former occasions, to re-
serve the rights asserted by the various authorities,
who claimed jurisdiction in the election of a prelate,
were duly observed. To obtain the confirmation at
Eome, oaths were taken by the archbishop-elect to
maintain the rights of the papal see in England ; and
to obtain the restoration of the temporalities, oaths
were taken to the king on the 24th of January, 1504,
which nullified the preceding oaths by declaring, that
the primate elect would assert the liberties of the
Church, and, if need should be, maintain the rights of
the crown against the pope.

The cross of Canterbury was delivered to Warham
by one of the monks of Christ Church, with the usual
address : " Eeverend Father, I am the messenger of
the Great King, who doth require and command you
to take upon you the government of His Church, and
to love and defend the same, in token whereof I give
you this His insignia." He placed the crosier in his
hand.f The pall was delivered to him at Lambeth,

* This letter was "given under our signet, at our castle at
Nottingham, on the 15th day of August." It may have been the
conge d'elire ; and as such I first regarded it ; but it is, more
probably, the letter missive which accompanied or followed the
formal document, and, as a letter from the king, it found its way
among the State Papers, from whence I take it.

t Weever, 234. Weever states that in his various buildings
Warham's motto appears : Auxilium meum a Domino. His arms
were : Gules, a fess ; in chief, a goat's head erased ; in base, three
escallops, two and one. — Bedford's Blazon.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 175

on the 2d of February, 1504, by the Bishops of Bath
and Lincoln.

The chroniclers have exhausted their powers of
description in their minute detail of the splendours 1503-32.
of the enthronization feast, which took place on
the 9th of March, 1504. We have read of the
magnificence displayed on other enthronization feasts,
but none surpassed in its grandeur the present cere-
monial. When we compare this enthronization and
the feast by which it was succeeded, with the frugal
entertainment given by Warham's successor, Dr. Cran-
mer, we read in the comparison the splendid conclusion
of one era, and the humble commencement of another,
an epoch of new ideas.

The frequent occurrence of festivities during the
season of Lent, in the Middle Ages, is opposed to some
modern notions with respect to mediaeval sentiment ;
but, when the choice of all the Sundays in the year was
open to Warham, it is difficult to surmise why he
should select Passion Sunday for his feast day. The
courts of law were closed, and business of state sus-
pended; and as every Sunday was a festival, he may
have chosen a Sunday in Lent, as being a time when
without inconvenience many would attend who would
otherwise have been obliged to stay away. When we
say, however, that every Sunday was a festival, we
must observe that upon the festivities of a Sunday in
Lent certain restrictions were nevertheless imposed.
Although men ate and drank to repletion, and some of
the feasters were obliged, in retirement, to rehabilitate
their constitutions by submitting to a course of physic
and blood-letting, still the dietary consisted exclu-
sively of fish. The taste of the piscivorous multitude
may not have been discriminating. When regaling
on well-concocted conger and ling and halibut, dis-

176 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, guised under various condiments and sauces, they may
— ^ have thought the difference slight between fish and

O O

genius of the artist, who presided
1503-32. over the culinary department, must have been called
into full play, while his taste was displayed in the
various subtleties he devised. The bill of fare, and a
description of the feast, occupy seven folio pages in
Somner. All the honours of the archbishop, and the
offices he had filled, were delineated upon the banquet-
ing dishes in gilded marchpaine and farinaceous
device. The archbishop appeared as Sir William; the
Chancellor of Oxford presented him to the king as the
worthiest son of the University ; the king, surrounded
by his lords, was seen receiving him as such, while, by
labels issuing from their mouths, the praises of the
archbishop were recounted in hexameters and penta-
meters, reminding him of the vuZe/us and verse task of
his school days at Winchester.

On the day appointed, the archbishop entered the
hall in solemn procession, and, taking his seat in the
centre of the table, had for his servitor no less a
personage than Edward, duke of Buckingham. The
descendant of Edward III, not distantly related to
the reigning sovereign, the Lord High Constable of
England, held certain lands, on condition of his act-
ing as the archbishop's high steward ; and he thought
it no degradation to discharge in person the duties
of his office. Attended by the heralds of arms, he
rode into the hall bareheaded, and made obeisance
to the primate. As each dish was brought in by the
appointed officers of the archbishop's household, the
Duke of Buckingham indicated by his staff of office
its position on the table. Backing his horse, he, with
his attendants, left the hall of the archbishop and
repaired to his own. At the expense of the arch-

ARCHBISHOPS OF CAN'TEKBtJRY. 177

bishop, the duke was there received with similar CHAP.
ceremony, and his suite were regaled.*

It was an age of pomp and ceremony — the age of -J^^J
the Field of the Cloth of Gold. The retainers of the 1503-32.
lord primate and the officers of the Court of Chancery,
the tenants of the archiepiscopal estates, the convent
and the city of Canterbury, would all of them have
felt themselves aggrieved, if in the splendours of their
chief they had not been permitted to have had their
share. It is a mistake to suppose that, in pomp and
ceremony, even those who act only as spectators
do not take an interest. A man who prefers the
simplicity of a republic, feels that, if he incurs the
expense of maintaining a monarchy, the splendours of
what he pays for should be brought before his eyes.
The philosopher is awaiv that the obsolete fashions of
a feudal ceremonial have a tendency to connect the
ut with the past, and so to shape the future. The
affectation of simplicity on similar occasions, at present
the fashion, is a grand mistake. He is no philosopher
who attends not to little things.

Warham had always been a favourite at Oxford,
and the University kept high festival on this occasion.
The coulV-ctioner of Canterbury was equalled if not
surpassed, in the brilliancy of his imagination, by the

* Batteley's Sonmer, Append. 21 : AVeever, 233; Wood, Annals,
i. 661. In the earlier periods of our history I have frequently
given a minute description of feasts, and presented the reader
with the bills of fare, as they are preserved in the pages of the
chroniclers or State Papers. I have quoted from books not easily
accessible, under the notion that the reader would find instruction
and amusement in comparing for himself the resemblances and the
differences of ancient and modern customs, more deeply impressed
upon the mind when the entertainment is described in the original
style. "When we approach modem times, such quotations would
answer no purpose ; except, therefore, when it is necessary in order
to establish a disputed fact to present the render Avith the ipsissinui
verfjo. of an author, references will suffice.

VOL. VI. X

178 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, pastrycook of Oxford. The Oxford feast was held on
_^_ the same Sunday in Lent, and the archbishop again
wSEraL aPPeared in pastry as Sir William. He was seen
1503-32. standing in a bed of flowers, in the midst of eight
embattled towers, representing New College, Magda-
len, Merton, Osney, Eewley, Black Friars, Austin, and
Grey. On each tower was a bedel in his habit and
with his staff of office. The king was seen seated with
his lords around him, all in their robes. On the right
hand of the king sat Sir William, or William Warham.
Then the chancellor was seen in his doctor's habit,
attended by six bedels, a vergerer, and a crucifer,
and he presented " the said Lord William" to the
king in some very bad Latin verses ; and from the
mouth of the king proceeded a label with verses
equally bad.

Warham was, like his royal master, under ordinary
circumstances frugal, but both were munificent on
great occasions.

It was in great state that the archbishop made his
appearance at Windsor in the year 1506. The Arch-
duke Philip claimed, in right of his wife, to be King of
Castile, and assumed the title of King- Archduke. On
his voyage to Spain he was compelled, by stress of
weather, to put into Weymouth. By the existing law
of nations, a prince landing in a foreign country with-
out a safe-conduct was regarded as the prisoner of the
king whose territory he had invaded, and who, on that
ground, claimed the right to demand a ransom. The
stringency of the law had been relaxed since the
days of Richard Coeur de Lion ; but the law itself
was still in force. The counsellors of the king-

archduke would have put again to sea ; it was less
hazardous to brave the uncertainties of a stormy
voyage, than to trust to the tender mercies of the
unscrupulous Tudor. But the hospitality with which

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 179

the royal party was received, reconciled them at CHAP.
length to the difficulty or impossibility of again >— v-L.

ng sail. For any advantage to be derived from -J^JJ
this windfall Henry VII. would depend upon diplo- isos-ss.
niacy rather than force. The king-archduke and his

•ry were invited to Windsor, where the court was
at that time residing, and where a splendid reception
awaited the foreigners.*

In those days the primate of all England was
treated with the honour due to the first subject in
the realm ; and the archbishop was invited to Wind-
sor. He arrived too late to officiate at the morning

•e ; and when he entered the state apartments,
the hangings of which were of crimson velvet and
doth of gold, he found the two kings standing by
the fire-place in close conversation, which he did
not disturb. After their private conversation the
royal personages joined the ladies. On this day,
it was a holyday, the gentlemen could not
hunt ; but this did not prevent the ladies from
dancing ; and among the dancers the young Princess
Mary attracted peculiar attention from her elegance
and beauty. At the proper time the folding-doors

* Of the proceedings of the English, court on this occasion a
minute description was drawn up by some contemporary herald-at-
arms, a transcript of which of later date is preserved in the British
Museum. It has been published in the Rolls Series by Mr.
Gairdner. In this document it i.s asserted, in opposition to a state-
ment made by Polydore Vergil, that Philip volunteered the sur-
render to Henry of the Earl of Suffolk, William de la Pole. The
two statements, that of the surrender " unaxed," as is here stated,
and that of Polydore Vergil, may be reconciled by supposing —
and this, after reading the narrative, we are disposed to do — that
Philip had discerned in conversation with Henry, that reasons
would incessantly occur to prevent his departure from England
until the concession had been made. Philip made a virtue of
;ind offered as a favour what he knew would be de-
manded as a stipulation.

N 2

180 LIVES OF THE

were thrown open, and the archbishop and the Dean
of Windsor appeared, each clad in his amice, and
mrham. bringing UP the procession which was approaching the
1503-32. chapel. In the chapel the two kings took their seats
beneath a canopy of a cloth of gold, the King of Eng-
land offering, and the King of Castile declining, the
seat of honour.* The service was now performed by
the archbishop, who took his seat in the dean's stall.

On Candlemas Day, the 2d of February, the arch-
bishop was again at Windsor. It was a high festival,
and observed with great ceremony. In the proces-
sion to the chapel, the sword of state was carried by
the Earl of Derby ; the kings remained under the
canopy until the candles were consecrated. The arch-
bishop sang mass in pontificalibus, the Bishop of
Eochester carrying the cross of Canterbury. The
King of England's taper was borne by the Earl of
Kent, and that of the King of Castile by the Lord
Ville, Knight of the Order of Toison. The King's
taper had a close crown, the King of Castile's an open
crown. The magnificence displayed excited the admi-
ration of a contemporary. In the procession he says it
was a goodly sight to see so many men of noble birth
all well appointed in cloth of gold, velvet, and silk, with
massy chains of pure gold and great weight.

Again, on the 9th of February, the archbishop was
at court, assisting at an investiture of the Order of the
Garter. To add to the dignity of the ceremonial, the
archbishop himself, instead of the Bishop of Win-
chester, administered the oath of the order to the King

* The essence of good breeding was the same in the sixteenth as
it was in the seventeenth century. The story of Lord Stair and
Louis XIV. has been often repeated. The action was now antici-
pated. On one occasion the King of England offered precedence
to the King of Castile. The latter paused for a moment, and then
obeyed, saying : " I see right well I must needs do your com-
mandment and obey as reason will."

•ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 181

of Castile. "When the religious portion of the sendee CHAP.
was concluded, Warham appeared in his character _ L^

of Lord High Chancellor of England. He was
attended by the Lord Privy Seal, the celebrated 1503-32.
.statesman Dr. Fox, bishop of Winchester, and other
members of the Privy Council.

King Henry was seated in his stall as Sovereign
of the Order of the Garter. The Lord Chancellor and
the Lord Privy Seal presented to him the treaty of
peace and amity, which had been agreed upon by the
two kings, duly sealed with the great seal and privy
seal. The counterpart, duly sealed, was presented to
the king-archduke by the Lord St. Py, the president
of Flanders, attended by other members of his council.
Each king, seated in his stall, signed the document
with his own hand. The secretary of the King of
England, the Rev. Dr. Routhall, standing on the steps
of the choir, read distinctly each article of the treaty
in the ears of the people, by whom the nave of the
chapel was densely thronged. A new procession was
formed. The kings, leaving their stalls, approached
the high altar. Kneeling before it, they solemnly
made oath that they would keep the treaty ; each
detail of which, point by point, was read. The Te
Deum was sung ; the trumpets again sounded. At
the chapter-house, the young Prince Henry was in
waiting, and he was invested by the King of Castile
with the Order of Toison d'Or.

Throughout his career, the hospitality of Warham
was conducted on a scale of almost royal magnificence.
Two hundred bishops, dukes, earls, and gentlemen of
lower degree were occasionally feasted in his hall.
His entertainments were always sumptuous, such as
became his dignity ; and he was courteous in inviting
his guests to partake of delicacies from which he himself
abstained. His own tastes were simple, and his habits

182 LIVES OF THE

abstemious. "Wine he seldom tasted ; and it was only
in his old age that he could be persuaded to taste mild
SL^Q> wmcn> according to Erasmus, the English call beer.
1503-32. Of supper he never partook when he was alone ; and
so he gained time for study, meditation, and prayer.
When guests were present, he sat down with them at
table ; and made himself extremely agreeable as a com-
panion, encouraging the jests of his friends, and utter-
ing pleasantries himself ; but of the viands he seldom
partook. He was a great economist of time. We
sometimes read with astonishment, of the rapidity with
which the luxurious feasts, provided for the traveller in
an American hotel, are consumed ; but the repasts
in Warham's hall, except on state occasions, only
occupied an hour.

It is mentioned, to Warham's praise, that he never
played at dice, nor did he, as many other prelates,
indulge in field sports.

The income of the Archbishop of Canterbury was at
this time very large. The incumbent of any great
benefice had too much liberty granted him with respect
to the disposal of it. He might easily alienate the
estates of the see, and Henry VIII. availing himself of
these facilities, compelled or cajoled Cranmer to make
over to him some of the best manors of the arch-
bishopric. By similar arrangements, or by long
leases, Queen Elizabeth enriched her courtiers as well
as herself. Before this time, the attachment to the
Church being more strong in an unmarried clergyman
than his attachment to his family, we have seen the
primates making their successors their heirs. They pur-
chased manors and erected mansions, and left them to
their see. Warham is said to have enriched his family
by alienating some of the estates of the see.* Dis-

* For this insight into the private life of Warham \ve are
indebted to Erasmus. See his Ecclesiastes.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 183

reo-ardincr the charge brought against him, of ne- CHAP.

o o o o o -IT

potism, he sought very properly to benefit his family. !_

His nephew was Archdeacon of Canterbury, the most -^jjjjj,1
lucrative preferment, beneath a bishopric, in the 1503-3-2.
country. I find a person of the name of Warhain
holding a subordinate situation in one of the lodges
of his park ; so that to his poor relations his family
affection descended. But I have not discovered
any instance of his alienating any portion of the

'pal pro pert}- ; nor, judging from his character
in general, do I think this probable. Indeed, g:
as his income was, there would be ample demands
upon it, when, to a great extent, he had to sup-
port the expenses of the chancellorship out of the

>pal revenues. When Warhani first became chan-
cellor, the annual salary was only one hundred mai
it was afterwards raised to two hundred pounds. The
perquisites of the office, however, were considerable,
and Warharn looked minutely to every item of ex-
penditure, the consideration of which is not without
interest. For commons for himself and his clerks he
one hundred marks. For the repose of the
great seal he purchased a new bag of crimson velvet,
to supply the place of the leathern bag of which w.
have so frequently read, and for this he charged the

rnment fifteen shillings. He received for sixty-two
days' attendance, from September 29 till November 30,
in his hostel, near Charing Cros.-. AV, -rminster, at
the rate of twenty-three shillings a day, 7ll. 6s. Od.
For his attendance in the Star Chamber, in Michaelmas
term, 5u/. ; for the month of December, 35/. 15s. Od.
Ids winter robes, when so attending, 261. 13s. 4t/.
For his service robes twenty marks. He had, in addi-
tion, certain tuns of Gascon wines. A variety of other
charges might be produced by reference to the Transfer

184 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, and other Rolls ; but what is here advanced will suffice
_-v-L* for a specimen.* Such fragments of information, im-
Warham Portant to the archaeologist who has time to pursue the
1:103-32. subject, are valuable to all readers from the light they
throw upon persons as well as upon times. We may
gather from what has been advanced, some further
insight into Warham's character ; and that character
was so similar to the character of Henry VII. and so dis-
similar from that of Henry VIII. that we are at no loss
to understand why Warham should have enjoyed that
favour with the father which was not accorded to him
by the son. He could be magnificent, but magnificence
was the exception, and not the rule. He was generous
in donations to needy friends, or to the reward of per-
sonal services or flattery; but at the same time, none
of his retinue could defraud him out of the smallest
coin, and for the most trifling expenditure he kept and
required an account. He was great on great occasions ;
but under ordinary circumstances he was economical.
In religion he was a reformer, but it was only on a
small scale. His desire was, that the Bible should be
more generally read than it was, but he would confine
the study to only a few who would use it piously
for devotional purposes, and not for a test by which to
sit in judgment on the teachings of the Church. He
admitted the royal supremacy, but he was like a child,
who, having fired a gun, is alarmed by the report. As
a chancellor, Warham has won the praise of modern
lawyers. In writing the history of the Primates of All
England, we have, to a certain extent, been writing the
history of the Lord High Chancellors of the realm.
Although it is incorrect to say, that Henry VIII. was the
first of our kings who appointed a layman to the office of

* Letters and Papers, Henry VIII. c. via. and the various
Letters among which, the information is dispersed.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 185

High Chancellor, yet down to this period the office was CHAP.

so often filled by ecclesiastics, and these very frequently,

then or afterwards, lord primates, that we have had ^Jj^m
frequently to mention the proceedings of the Court of 1503-3-2.
Chancery. At first we have seen the Chancellor
6 fieyasf \oyo6errjs, but before the time of Warham
he had become a judge.

Full of wise saws and modern instances, if at any
time, suminumju s became summct injuria, the common
sense of the Lord Chancellor might overrule the letter
to enforce the spirit of the law or to give effect to the
intention of the legislature ; but already the judge was,
to a very considerable extent, bound down by pre-
cedents, or by antecedent judgments of the court over
which he presided. Warham's chief fault was the fault
of his position ; the judge was sometimes merged in the
ecclesiastic. He would interpret the law of the land
1 >y a reference to the Old Testament ; and he would
warn an executor wasting the goods of a testator,
that if he did not make what restitution he could, he
would be damned for ever in hell.*

As a statesman Warham retained his popularity
while minister of an unpopular monarch, and we
presume that he was the adviser of moderate measures.
Henry VII. and his ministers were generally unpopular
because, towards the close of his reign, he attacked the
purses of his people ; and this sometimes by proceedings
unjustifiable, if not iniquitous. The wise and prudent
measures of his government, and the justice with which,
in other respects, it was administered, have been too
often overlooked. By the regulation of the guilds, and
by subjecting their ordinances to the revision of the
Lord Chancellor, a burden was removed from the

* See the case given in the Y. B. Henry VII. 16, quoted by
Campbell.

186 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, working classes. The statutes against beggars and
~~^ vagabonds had been insufferably harsh ; they were
mitigated by Henry VII, but were afterwards made

1503-32. perfectly draconic by his popular son. The commer-
cial world was gratified by a confirmation of the pri-
vileges enjoyed by the merchants of the Hanse. For
"the ease of his subjects" the king obtained parliamen-
tary authority, to reverse at his pleasure, the various
acts of attainder, which had been so frequently
passed in the party-spirit of the late troublous times.

That Warham did not approve, if he countenanced,
the illegal exactions which brought disgrace and ruin
upon Empson and Dudley, I think we may infer from
circumstances which will presently be brought under
the notice of the reader ; but from his general cha-
racter we must presume, that he sympathised with his
master in the opinion that a king could only be
powerful who was, by his wealth, rendered independent
of his people ; and we must not forget, that it was
by Warham, that Dudley was recommended to the
Speakership of the House of Commons. The fact is,
that Dudley and Empson only applied to court affairs
the principle adopted by certain pettifogging clergy-
men in regard to the ecclesiastical courts. They
searched out for obsolete laws, and either prosecuted
offenders for the non-observance of them, or enacted
a heavy payment from those who preferred a fine to
amercement.

A king was in those days, his own prime minister ;
but Henry was too wise a prince not to consult his
council ; and his chancellor must have viewed with
satisfaction the success with which, after a long and
painful struggle, the foreign policy of Henry VII.
was crowned. Justice has never been done to this
unpopular king ; but when we peruse his correspond-

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 187

ence with foreign courts which has lately been brought CHAT.
to light, and see the enormous difficulties of Henry's ^Ji_
position, we shall be inclined to regard him, though ^ynjiani

. oo Warliam.

not a brilliant, yet as a very sagacious and far-seeing 1503-3-2.
statesman. He raised the character of the nation
abroad, and compelled unwilling potentates to respect
his power. Through his moderation, the struggle
between the kings of France and Spain, for the throne
of Naples, had been set at rest. Such was the high
estimation in which he was held in Europe, that he
was offered the command of a crusade against the
infidels. Pope Julius II, in accordance with his name
and character, sent him a consecrated sword. The
peaceful monarch sheathed the sword, and added
it to the muniments of the crown. Among the
•nts, by which the king and his chancellor
to be propitiated, came a leg of St. George — a
nt from Cardinal d'Amboise, the minister of
Louis XII, 011 St. George's Day, 1505. The leg was
enclosed in silver ; it was exhibited, by the arch-
bishop's command, in St. Paul's Cathedral "\Varlmm
was not without superstition ; but the friend of Eras-
mus attached more value to the silver, than the leg ;
to the casket, than to the relic. By those, who, in the
at age, seek notoriety by affecting singularities,
the leg would 1 >e worshipped : in the time of Warliam,
notoriety was to be obtained by those, who looked upon
the whole proceeding with a scorn they dared not
to oxpn ss. ^lany devout people, however, believed
without examining, and, though mistaken, their
devotion was at least sincere.

Towards the close of Henry's reign, and after the
death of his amiable queen, the conduct of the king
was such as to cause considerable annoyance and
trouble to his counsellors, and especially to the keeper

188 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, of his conscience. His matrimonial speculations were
— .~_ marvellous. The prevalent notion that he had treated
Warham. Queen Elizabeth with harshness, or even with indif-
1503-32. ference, so far from being corroborated, is positively
contradicted, by such facts of history as have come
within our notice. The marriage was not a love-
match ; but, so far as his impassive nature permitted,
Henry became attached to his wife, and the queen was
devoted to her husband ; in their children they found
a tie, which bound them closer to each other. We still
possess a letter, which describes the misery of the
bereaved parents on the decease of Prince Arthur ; and
the description of the manner in which both king and
queen tendered their mutual consolation is affecting.

The notions prevalent in the Middle Ages, with
respect to the marriage state, were lax ; such as might
be expected when it was represented by the clergy as
a mere concession to human weakness or passion.
Kings were taught to regard marriage simply as a
political arrangement ; but even Henry, a wary states-
man, could not make up his mind to share his
throne with a lady utterly devoid of personal attrac-
tions. Among the most ludicrous of the state papers
which have been lately discovered, there is none
more amusing than that, which contains the directions
given to the ambassadors of Henry, who were autho-
rized to propose a matrimonial alliance on the part of
the King of England, with the young Queen of Naples.
Each feature was to be described, every expression of
her countenance was to be observed, and notice was to
be taken of her whole demeanour. *

The idea which the king entertained, of obtaining a

* See the Introduction and Eeport of Francis Marsin and others,
with respect to the Queen of Naples, among the Memorials of
Henry VII. in the Eolls Series, 223.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 189

dispensation from the pope to enable him to marry CHAP.

the widow of the late Prince of Wales, his son, is re- L,

volting to ever)' well-regulated mind. It is a circurn- ^^
stance, however, of some historical importance ; for if 1503-32.
the marriage had been consummated, the very thought
of obtaining such a dispensation could not have entered
his mind, and in the divorce controversy of the next
reign, this circumstance tends to corroborate the case
in favour of Queen Katherine's statement.

It does not fall within our scope to proceed further
into the consideration of the matrimonial speculations
which bewildered the ever-anxious mind of Henry VII.
We a iv only concerned with his proposal, that, if he
could not himself be a suitor to Katherine, she might
at L-ast be married to Prince Henry. To this subject

liall hereafter recur.

Between Warham and his sovereign a friendship
existed a> intimate as the cold and cautious nature of
Henry VII. would admit. The king often visited the
archbishop, and was his guest at the palace of Canter-
bury about three weeks before his death. Although
he was only fifty-two years of age, the anxieties of a
life, always insecure, had told upon a constitution
never very strong, and he had become prematurely
old. There were upon him uumistakeable symptoms
of the consumption of which he soon after died, and he
desired to converse with Warham on the state of his
soul, and of the account he was to render to that King
of kings to whom an earthly sovereign is only the
vicegerent. Henry brought with him to Canterbury a
draft of his will, in order that to it the great seal
might be affixed by the chancellor. The complaints
of the people had reached the royal ear, and the
conscience-stricken king appointed a commission, at
the head of which the archbishop was placed, that
restitution might be made to any persons, who could

190 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, prove themselves to have been wronged, under the late
__ _ arbitrary proceedings of Dudley and Empson.

Among the various bequests for religious purposes,

1503-32. and for "pious uses," the king directs the formation of
a great number of pixes of gold, of four pounds' value
each, garnished with the royal arms and red roses and
portcullises crowned. They were to be delivered on
application to every house of the four orders of friars,
and to every parish church, by " the treasurer of our
chamber and the master of our jewel house." The
royal donor was moved to do this from having often
seen to his inward regret and displeasure, in divers and
many churches of his realm, "the holy sacrament of
the altar kept in full simple and inhonest pixes,
specially pixes of copper and timber."*

The archbishop was made supervisor of this his last
will and testament.

With the death of Henry VII. Warham's career as
a statesman may be said to have terminated. He re-
tained the great seal until the year 1515, but he
petitioned earnestly to be released from the cares of
office, and to be permitted to devote himself to more
congenial pursuits. The only person qualified, at this
time, to succeed him in the office, was Wolsey, and,
owing to his various engagements as a foreign minister,
Wolsey was unwilling to add to his labours, so long as
the duties of a j udge were well performed by one who
had no ambition to interfere in politics. How com-
pletely Warham had retired from public life, may be
perceived, by a reference to the state papers which
have, of late years, thrown so much light on history.
We find documents in the handwriting of Fox, Euthal,
and Wolsey, but not in that of Warham. With the
new king everything was changed, and the methodical
lawyer of an effete school of politics could not adapt
* Testamenta Vetusta, i. 33.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 191

himself to the gigantic schemes, by which the great CHAP.

minister of Henry VIII. was raising his country to — ^~

• • wir

that high position in the republic of nations, which it wariuua.

has ever since sustained. Although "Warham was 1503-32.

treated by the king and the queen with the respect
due to his high station, he was no favourite at court.
The young couple, mutually attached, could not forget
that the marriage, by which they found themselves
happy, had been opposed by "\Varham.

Upon this subject we have promised to make a
few observations. Henry VII. in the first instance
proposed that his second son should many the widow
of his eldest. His object, it is assumed by modern

•rians, was simply to avoid the repayment of the
dower of the princess.* Suddenly, however, we find
that, regardless of the dower, he had changed his
mind, and the prohibition of all intercourse between
the young people had a tendency to convert into a
love match what was at first a mere act of state policy.
Henry VII. was not a man, who for slight causes
either entered upon or retreated from a line of policy,
and for his proceedings in this affair we are now able,
through the deciphering of the Simancas papers, to

unt. These papers reveal to us a state of affairs,
scarcely intelligible, according to the maxims of modern
policy. Before her marriage with Henry, the young
Princess Katherine was treated by the king, his father,
as little 1 letter than a state prisoner. To gain her a
position probably at the English court, she was pro-
vided by King Ferdinand with a court of her own,

* That this was a consideration "with Henry, is inferred from his
general character; but from the Simancas Letters we learn that
the person niost urgent for the marriage of the Princess Katherine
with Henry, prince of "\Vales, was not the English king, but her
father. The conjectures of the historian are too often accepted as
his tried facts.

192 LIVES OP THE

and her court was the rallying place of a considerable
Spanish party then in England. To reduce England
^° ^e condition of a Spanish province, was for a long
1503-32. time the day-dream of the ambitious Spaniard. He
would not retire from England, but constituted the
young princess his representative. That so young a
lady, the widow or the fiancee of the heir-apparent
of the English throne, should be placed in such a
situation, would be sufficiently remarkable ; but it is
still more remarkable, that she did not accept the office
as merely one of honour. The advocates, domestic and
foreign, of the Spanish interest in England, had been
split into factions. The young princess took her side
in the controversies ; and as she had, and maintained,
a will of her own, her father found it difficult to
control her.*

Towards the close of Henry VIL's reign, the rela-
tions between him and King Ferdinand of Spain
were anything but friendly. Into the causes of their
disagreement, it is not our business to enter ; we are
contented to remark, that there were faults, as in most
disputes, on both sides. The quarrel became at length
so acrimonious that a war seemed to be inevitable.!
Without taking the dower into account, it is not

* So little did she account of her dower that she is said to have
behaved uncourteously to the bankers Grimaldi, by whom the
dower was paid. For the statements here made the reader may be
referred generally to the Calendar of Letters, Despatches, and
State Papers, placed in the Archives of Simancas and elsewhere,
printed in the Eolls Series. The learned Editor, Mr. Bergenroth,
speaks of himself as a " calendarer," a new profession ; but his
right to the title of an historian is so fully established by his in-
troductory chapter that he can claim it when he will. Among
calendarers he is equalled by very few, and surpassed by none.

f It was in truth only averted by the serious illness of King
Henry. The King of France preached patience to the King of
Spain, foreseeing that, without recourse to arms, the controversy
might soon be ended by Henry's death.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 193

surprising that Henry should prohibit his son from all CHAP.
intercourse with a court, which, in the king's own

country, was plotting against his kingdom. He may -J-alham
not have been able to prove what was actually the 1503-32.
ca.se ; but he must have entertained more than a mere
suspicion, that the King of Spain was actually endea-
vouring to provoke hostile feelings against his father,
in the breast of the Prince of Wales. A letter is in
existence, in which Ferdinand commissions his ambas-
sadors to deliver his credentials to the young prince,
and to tell him that he, King Ferdinand, " places his
person and his kingdom at the prince's disposal.'' W»-
may, by comparing the Spanish papers witli what
really took place, presume that the case stood as fol-
lows. Henry VII. from political motives would not
permit the Lady Katharine to leave his kingdom ; so
long as she was in England she was a kind of hostage,

O O O *

and her father would act with caution, before he pro-
ceeded to extremities. Aware of the hostile designs of
Ferdinand, Henry VII, who had at first encouraged
the attentions of the Prince of WaL-.s to the Spanish
princess, forbade the marriage between the youno-
couple. Ferdinand, when he could not procure the
return of the princess to her home, gave her a position
in England, Ix-yond that of Princess do wager of Wales,
by making her the representative of the Spanish
court. Prince Henry, having been already charmed
by a lady, whom he had a short time before approached
as his intended bride, was known to resent the arbi-
trary conduct of his father. The King of Spain desired
his ambassador to treat Prince Henry as if he were his
son-in-law, and offered to assist him, if his father
should drive him to desperation.

Among the counsellors of Henry VII. there was a
difference of opinion as to the expediency of breakino-

VOL. vi. o

194 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, off the engagement between Henry and Katherine.
_- J_ Warham urged strongly the point of view taken by
Warham tne king. Whatever he may have secretly thought of
1503-32. the extraordinary conduct of his master, he knew that
it would tax his political resources to the utmost, to
prevent a war with the King of Spain. He could not
advise a marriage between the king's son and the
daughter of Ferdinand, so long as Ferdinand was
intriguing against England, and forming alliances hos-
tile to her king. Henry VII. dies. A change imme-
di;itely takes place over the whole aspect of affairs.
The King of Spain was the friend, the ally, and sought
to be the counsellor of the young King of England.*
We may say that all consents were obtained to the
marriage which were necessary — that of the King of
Spain, that of the young King of England, and that
also of his father. Henry VII. had desired the mar-
riage so long as there was a good understanding
between England and Spain ; and now that a good
understanding was re-established, he would, if living,
have rejoiced to meet the wishes of his son, and to
retain the dower of his bride. Henry VII. died on the
31st of April, 1509, and on the 3d of the following
June, Archbishop Warham officiated at the marriage
of the young king and the Lady Katherine — a mar-
riage productive of many years of happiness, succeeded
by a sad, cruel, and tragical termination. I have been

* It would appear from the Simancas documents that Ferdinand
expected the succession of Henry to the crown would be disputed.
He declared himself ready under such circumstances to send a
powerful army to support the young prince, " consisting of men-at-
arms, infantry, and artillery, ships and engines of war," and to
place himself at their head. Throughout the correspondence with
Henry VII. Ferdinand appears to have regarded the position of
the Tudor dynasty as precarious. It was long before he could be
prevailed upon to address Henry VII. as his brother.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 195

led to investigate this subject, because, until the inves- CHAP.

tigation, the conduct of Warham, in regard to the ._

marriage, appeared inconsistent and unaccountable. ^-a1^™
The revelation of state secrets made in the Simancas 1503-3-2.
Papers, enables us to account, without recourse to
conjecture, for the conduct both of Warham and of
his royal master.

It is proper to remark, that a question was started
by a Spaniard, the confessor of Queen Katherine, as to
the legality of the marriage ; and the scruple of the
confessor was duly submitted to the consideration of
King Ferdinand the Catholic, by his ambassador in
England, Gutier Gomez de Fuensalida, knight com-
mander of Membrilla. The king affirmed the lawful-
ness of the marriage, a dispensation having been duly
obtained from the pope ; he went on to say, that a sin
would be committed by the King of England, if he
receded from the engagement, for he had been already
betrothed to the Princess Katherine. The King of
England might take example from the King of Portu-
gal, who had married sin-<.T.s<i\vly two sisters and was
living happily and cheerfully with the survivor, sur-
rounded by a numerous offspring.* No scruple passed
ovi.-r the mind of Archbishop Warham. From his
standing point the case would be thus regarded : the
pope could not dispense with a divine law ; marriage
with a deceased brother's wife was contrary to the
divine law ; there was, therefore, in such a case, no
room for a dispensation : but, on the other hand, a papal

* Simancas Calendars, 8. For the sake of brevity I shall refer
to the Spanish State Papers under this title, and to the Calendar
of Domestic State Papers as Henry VIII. Calendar. The State
Papers published by Mr. Lemon will be referred to as State
Papers. The numerous progeny of the King of Portugal might
have furnished an excuse to Henry VIII. when his conscience, as
he said, was alarmed by the sad fate which attended all his own
children save one, and she a female.

o 2

196 LIVES OF THE

dispensation was valid against an infraction of a law
of the Church. If, therefore, the marriage had been
Wai-ham, consummated, then a dispensation was invalid, and no
1503-32. divorce could in any way be obtained ; but if the mar-
riage had not been consummated, then, in point of
fact, no marriage had taken place, — there had been a
pre-contract only, and here a dispensation was admis-
sible. All that had existed between Prince Arthur and
the Lady Katherine was a marriage contract. Such a
contract, solemnly made in the presence of the Church,
was so far a marriage that if either of the parties had
repudiated the contract, and married some one else, he
or she would be accounted guilty of adultery, and the
children would have been illegitimate ; but to annul
such a marriage as this, an incomplete marriage, a
papal dispensation would hold good. Upon this point
the controversy, into which we shall have to enter
more at large hereafter, mainly rested. With a view
to that future controversy, it is important that the
reader should bear in mind, that when Warham opposed
the marriage of Henry with Katherine, the cathedra,
from which he gave forth his judgment, was not the
throne in his cathedral, but the marble chair of the
Lord High Chancellor of England. As a statesman,

O O

he offered no objection to a marriage against which
nothing could be urged when the peace between Eng-
land and Spain was once restored. Katherine's union
with Prince Arthur was regarded by Warham as an
act of espousal, investing the Infanta with all the rights
of the Princess of Wales. To the public, the announce-
ment of this fact was made, when the bull of Julius II.
was exhibited, and more especially when at her mar-
riage with Henry the Lady Katherine did not appear
as a widow entering upon her second nuptials ; but
was seen in the dress and the colours which betokened

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 197

a virgin bride. She was apparelled in white satin, em- CHAP.
broidered ; her hair, " long, beautiful, and goodly to *— ^~
behold," streamed down her neck ; a diadem was on wJiham.
her head radiant with gems. She sat in her covered 1503-3-2.
litter borne by two white palfreys. Six noble person-
ages followed on white palfreys. The ladies of the
royal household followed in cloth of silver tinsel and
velvet, in chariots drawn by horses whose harness was
powdered with ermine. The streets were railed and
barred from Gracechurch to Bread Street in Cheapside.
Every trade stood in its liveries, from the meanest to
the most worshipful crafts ; at the head were the lord
mayor and the aldermen, representing the commercial
»cracy. At the end of the Old Change appeared,
at the goldsmiths' stalls, virgins in wit itc with branches
of white wax; priests and clerks attending with crosses
and censers of silver, to waft a blessing to the royal
couple as they passed.

The reader who is interested in ceremonials may
find, in the chronicle of Hall, a minute description
of the marriage and the coronation which followed its
celebration. The coronation services, almost identical
with those of the Holy Roman Empire, have been sub-
stantially the same in England, from the days of Canute
to those of Queen Victoria. Nothing unusual occurred
at the coronation of King Henry and Queen Katherine.
Although, therefore, Archbishop Warham officiated, as
a matter of course, we need not here repeat what has
been described on other occasions. To the bridal pro-
cession attention has been directed, because it bears
upon an historical fact with which both \Varham and
C'raumer were nearly concerned. After the doubt ex-
-<-d on the subject of the marriage by the confessor
of the princess, the greatest care was taken to impress
the public mind with the fact, that the royal bride had

198 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, been only nominally the widow of the late Prince
^^Ls Arthur. What had occurred to the mind of one man

have suggested itself as an objection to others.
1503-32. From a letter, of which we have an abstract in the
Venetian Calendar, we may infer that doubts were
from time to time entertained on the validity of the
marriage, though only by a few ; and these few were
persons who were prepared to dispute the papal right,
under any circumstances, to grant a dispensation.
This, however, can scarcely be said to palliate the sub-
sequent conduct of Henry VIII. Because he was in
love with Katherine at the time, and because he was
nattered by the proffered friendship of her father, he
overruled every objection ; and both he and his wife
relied implicitly on the dictum of the wise old King of
Spain, the action of the pope, the acquiescence to the
whole proceeding on the part of the Archbishop of
Canterbury representing the clergy, and the advice of
the Privy Council. When he was weary of his wife,
the doubts were permitted to rise into certainties;
and a slumbering conscience was excited, if not
awakened, by an illicit attachment.

Of Henry's devotion to his wife, during the first
years of their married life, we have ample evidence in
the State Papers ; in one of these he asserts, some time
after his marriage, that if he were still free to choose,
his choice would fall on the Lady Katherine. Fickle
as he proved himself to be, it was not till the year 1519
that his natural son, the Duke of Richmond, was born.
His attachment was returned by the enthusiastic devo-
tion of his wife. There was not, in her estimation, such
a paragon in the world as Henry ; he was her hero,
her paladin. In his absence, to receive intelligence of
the king's health and news of his proceedings, she tells
Wolsey, is her greatest comfort.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 199

From the delight she felt in sharing the pleasures of CHAP.
the king, she entered heartily into the gaieties of the __
court which she adorned. She danced well : she was ,}} ll^am

^ arham.

a good musician; she spoke English more correctly 1503-32.
than half the ladies of her court ; she was so good a
Latin scholar that she could read with her husband the
works of Erasmus. To her Erasmus dedicated his
treatise " De Matrimonio." In this work he alludes to
the presents he frequently received from the king, and
adds, that in generosity the best of women vies with
her husband. To a dull commonplace artist she would
not have appeared as a beauty, for her features were
not regular, and, when she was not animated, they
were heavy. The artist, however, of genius, would
have seen beauty in the bright intelligence of her
countenance ; and the ladies of her court remarked
upon the splendour of her complexion. She was lively
in conversation, while her deportment was elegant and
her manners gracious. "

The archbishop, in the year 1510, was appointed by
the pope to present the king with the golden rose. Of
this royal present we have had occasion to speak more
than once. The rose was dipped in chrism, perfumed
with musk, and consecrated. It was a token of amity
on the part of the Eoman pontiff; and its presentation
corresponded with the investiture of a royal personage

* This description of Queen Katherine is gathered from various
letters of contemporaries, among the State Papers of Henry's reign.
They are summed up by Brewer in his preface. It is remarkable,
as opposed to the general statement that the queen's religious
feelings and ascetic practices cast a gloom over the court, that when
Campegio had his interview with Katherine, to endeavour to
persuade her to return to a monastery, he accused her of having
encouraged " dancing and court diversions " to a greater extent
than before the commission was granted to the legate. — Collier,
iv. 90.

200 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, with an order of national knighthood by a friendly

^-^ sovereign. It was presented to the king with great

"vv-irh-im ceremony> after the celebration of high mass at St.

1503-32. Paul's.

It was customary to request the primate to act as
sponsor to the royal child, when the Queen of England
presented to her king and country an heir-apparent to
the throne ; and to Katherine's first-born, Warham
appears as one of the godfathers.

On the 21st of January, 1510, a parliament was
held at Westminster. It met in the great chamber of
the palace, near the royal chapel, or oratory.* The
king assumed his place on the throne, and then
directed the Lord Chancellor to address the Lords
and Commons in the royal name. Warham's speech
was after the usual form, and was listened to rather as
a duty than from the hope of ascertaining, from the
chancellor's statements, what was likely to be the policy
of the Government. The fault of such speeches is the
fault which may often be found with sermons. The
speaker laboured to prove what required no proof, to
establish by argument what had been previously ac-
cepted by intuition. Taking for his text 1 Pet. ii. 1 7,
Deum timete, regem honorificate, he reminded the
king and the magnates of the land of the indisputable
fact that, unless they had before their eyes the fear of
God, to hope for national prosperity would be vain.
The people were to honour the king ; but the king was
to honour God. The king was honoured when the
laws were obeyed by the people ; and it was by keep-
ing the commandments that the king was to serve his
God. He pointed to the example of our ancestors, who
not only made good laws, but also observed and en-
forced them. He then became figurative and poetical.
* Journals of the House of Lords, i. 3.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. "201

Parliament, lie compared to tlie stomach of tlie nation ; CHAP.
the judges acted as the eyes of the commonwealth ; — ~
counsel, learned of the law, are the tongue ; the -JaJSaS.
magistrates in town and country were declared to be 1503-32.
the messengers of the king, and those who neglected
their duty he compared to Noah's raven. Trial by
jury was upheld, and the jurors were to be regarded as
the pillars of government ; while the collectors of
- and customs were the spurs of the common-
wealth,— and very few of them, he sarcastically re-
marked, were worth much. These observations elicited
much applause, and, we may presume, some laughter.
The chancellor, thus encouraged, invoked each sepa-
rate member of the body politic, and called upon
all and ea<-h among the lords spiritual and temporal,
and tin- whole commonalty of the reakn, to come for-
ward in support of the Crown, in order that Justice,
the queen of virtues, might be auspicious in the land.
• lv« TU-d to a necessity of reform in Church and
State, to be effected by the abolition of iniquitous
laws, and by the enactment of useful statutes. If the
ne\v parliament would act on these principles, God
would be feared, the king would be honoured, and the
commonwealth would be well administered.

The speech, thus made up of platitudes, was received
with great applause, and was much admired. The
inference which may be adduced from this fact is, that
"\Varham excelled in voice and manner, and in the
externals of eloquence. He was not a man of genius ;
but amoiif clever men he was in the first rank.

Whatever he undertook he cleverly performed, but he
only undertook what the circumstances of his position
forced upon him. The allusion to a reformation was
what might have been expected. We have seen, that
for many years, the demand for Church reform, origi-

202 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, nating in the fourteenth century, had been increas-
*^-^ ing in its intensity. Among the Simancas papers
Warham we ^nc^ liters from Ferdinand the Catholic, in which
1503-32. this subject is strongly enforced ; and until the conven-
tion of the Council of Trent, the question among
serious men was, not whether a reformation was neces-
sary, but what measures should be adopted to effect
the object, and by whom it was to be enforced.

We may lay before the reader in this place the few
incidents of Warham's parliamentary life ; and we
have only to repeat what has just been asserted. He
did respectably what he was obliged to undertake ; but
his speeches were, as must be a man's doings and
sayings, when, in what he performs in action or main-
tains in argument, he feels little interest and takes no
pleasure.

On the 4th of February, 1512, parliament again
met at Westminster, and Warham thought it neces-
sary to prove what few of his auditors would be in-
clined to deny or doubt, that it is conducive to the
welfare of the country to summon the estates of the
realm to assemble in council. He establishes his point
by quoting the authority of Valerius Maximus, and
King Solomon. The object of a parliament ought
to be the preservation of peace ; but as peace could
not always be maintained, he proved the lawfulness of
war by a reference to the wars of Joshua against the
Amalekites, and David against the Philistines.*

The prevalent rumours of a rupture between this
kingdom and France received confirmation, by this
allusion to the lawfulness of war ; and the expected
demand for a subsidy was made on the sixteenth day
of the session. The opening speech was a kind of
sermon addressed to the public. But now the lords
* Journals of the House of Lords, i. 10.

AECHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 203

spiritual and temporal being summoned, the doors were CHAP.
closed, and the chancellor addressed them in a busi- — - J^
ness-like speech, unadorned by the flowers of rhetoric, ^arham^
It was explained to them, that the King of the Scots 1503-32.
had commenced a border war ; that the king's officers
had been insulted in the execution of their duty, and
that the property of his lieges had been wantonly
1. In the next place, the lords were informed
that the king's ally, the Duke of Guelderland, had
been insulted by the King of Castile. Attention was
lastly called to the insults offered by the King of the
French to the Pope of Home ; an account of which, in
a papal brief, the chancellor directed the Master of the
Rolls to read to the house.

The House of Lords received with due respect the
communication made to it by the crown, through its
chief minister. A procession was formed, at the head
of which appeared the Lord Treasurer and the Lord
Chancellor : they repaired to the House of Com-
mons, and before that house the same statements
were laid.""

The subsidies were immediately granted, and vari-
ous measures were adopted, to enable the king to
conduct tin- war with vigour. The young monarch,
full of military ardour, was enthusiastically supported
by his people.

No parliament was again summoned until a peace
was concluded with the King of France, Louis XII,
who was married to Mary, the King of England's
sister. On the 5th of February, 1514-15, Arch-
bishop Warham, still Lord Chancellor, was once more
called upon to open parliament with a speech. The
parliament met at Westminster, in the Painted Cham-
ber; and the king, though he did not speak, was
* Journals of the House of Lords, i. 13.

204 LIVES OF THE

C^rf P' present. Warham's speech on this occasion gave very

— 7~ great satisfaction."'

Warham. He contrasted the selfishness of the existing age with

1503-32. the public spirit on all occasions displayed by the
ancients. He complains of the neglect of the common-
wealth by those who thought only of their private
ends. The republic had, therefore, sickened ; physi-
cians must be consulted to restore the sick man to
health ; such medical men were to be found in the
king's council, the king being himself the chief doctor.
He then changed his figure of speech, and compared
his royal master to a schoolmaster armed with a rod :
it is necessary that he should exercise proper discipline,
and that, in consequence, he should be rightly advised.
He admonished the- counsellors of the king, that the
advice they were to give should be honest, honourable
to the king, useful to the commonwealth. He then

dwelt upon the duty of the judges, and of all who
were concerned in the administration of justice ;
reminding them of Solomon's injunction to all
such : " Love ye justice." In his peroration he
called upon them collectively and individually to
carry out the work of reformation and amend-
ment, concluding with fervour : " So> shall ye please
God, give honour to the king, and preserve abundant
peace and prosperity for the whole realm. Quod
Deus concedat. Amen."

We may repeat the remark, that when auch an
oration as this, was by all parties enthusiastically
received, it only proves that Warham was endued
with sweetness of voice and a natural eloquence,
such as we ourselves occasionally witness in preachers

* In the Journals of the House of Lords it is also called,
elegantem quandam et luculentam orationem.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 205

who, inferior in point of ability, are surrounded by CHAP.

attentive, applauding, and enthusiastic auditors. _J^L,

Not that Warhani was a man of inferior ability : he J5~uiiam

>\ arham.

was, on the contrary, as compared with the generality 1503-32.
of men, a remarkably clever person, who had pursued
his studies with diligence ; but he lacked that genius
which is more concerned with the reason than with the
understanding, which decides through its intuitions on
the course to be pursued, and has acted already, while
inferior minds are debating whether action should be
taken or not. The ability of Warham is underrated
because his whole character is dwarfed by the over-
shadowing of the master-mind of Cardinal Wolsey.

Not to interrupt the history of Warham's parlia-
mentary life, I have assumed that the reader has
retained in his recollection the history of the splendid
events which rendered memorable the early career of
Henry VIII. The son had reaped what the father
had sown, and Henry VIII. had easily become, what
Henry VII. had aspired to be, the dictator of Europe.
With the Emperor Maximilian, Pope Leo X. and
the King of Spain, the league against France had
been formed. On the 30th of June, 1513, Henry
had landed on the French territory. On tin-
IGth of August, amidst the applause and astonish-
ment of Europe, the Battle of the Spurs was fought.
On the -2-d of the same month Terouenne was
captured. On the 9th of September the Battle of
Flodden was won. On the 29th of September,
Tournay was reduced. The glories of Henry the
Fifth's rei<m seemed to be renewed. Nothing could

o o

exceed the enthusiasm with which the king was
received by his loyal and loving subjects, when on
the 24th of November he returned to England.
When peace was declared between the kings of

206 » LIVES OF THE

England and of France, the French king had to cede
Tournay and to pay a large sum of money towards
Warham discnargmg tne expenses of the war. In the field and
1503-32. in the cabinet all was success and triumph. All that
was required of the King of England was, that he
should cause his sister Mary to share the splendours of
the crown of France. Mary had her brother's spirit,
and a woman's heart ; her heart she had already given
to another, and her hand she gave most unwillingly
to a foreigner, prematurely old, debilitated by his
vices : but she was made to yield.

The French monarch overwhelmed her with presents,
and restored her to her liberty by his death on the 1st
of January, 1515.

For these brilliant successes England was indebted
to the genius of one of the greatest of the ministers to
whose direction the destinies of the country have at
any time been confided. Thomas Wolsey, not yet a
cardinal, was the adviser, the friend, the boon com-
panion of the king. He bent to his own purposes the
iron will of Henry. Sometimes he could hardly refrain
from showing that the king who impetuously issued his
commands was in truth the servant of the minister, who
received from the mouth of his sovereign the orders
which he had himself previously suggested to the royal
mind. The eleven years of Wolsey 's ministry were
years of glory to Henry VIII. The great cardinal
rendered the proud motto assumed by Henry at the
Field of the Cloth of Gold a reality, — cui adhcereo ille
prceest. At the close of the brilliant campaign of
1525, Paris was virtually at the mercy of the English
army.

With the history of Wolsey we are only so far
concerned, as it comes into contact with that of
Warham.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 207

Here we must correct a wrong impression which has CHAP.
prevailed with regard to their relations with each _J_

•«. O

other. In the absence of materials for history, many ^^zm
writers of this period, and the biographers of Wolsey 1503-32.
in particular, have had recourse to conjecture. Warham
was chancellor ; it has been conjectured that Wolsey
desired to supplant him, and that he resorted to
various artifices with the view of forcing him into a
resignation. On the other hand, it is taken for granted
that Warham desired to retain the chancellorship,
and that when, by the manoeuvres of his rival, he was
displaced, he became a prey to those little feelings of
mortification and jealousy, which predominate in little
minds, and from which great minds are not always or
entirely exempt.

That these suppositions are without the slightest
foundation is clearly proved by the revelations made
to us through the documents in the Eolls House,
which contain the public and private correspondence
of those eminent personages ; and through various
letters from other quarters selected by the industry,
and illustrated by the learning, of Sir Henry Ellis.

For several years before he resigned the great seal,
we know for certain that Warham desired to retire,
but was not permitted. The permission was withheld
because Wolsey, in the multiplicity of his affairs, was
unwilling to add to his many avocations the duties
which devolved on the chancellor. He could not trust
so responsible a post to any of the statesmen who
watched his course with envy, hatred, and malice ;
and the duties of the office were discharged by
Warham, whose respect for Wolsey, notwithstanding
an occasional difference of opinion, amounted almost
to friendship.

In a letter to Erasmus, in 1515, Sir Thomas More

208 LIVES OF THE

CHAP. Sa7s : " The archbishop has succeeded at last in getting

quit of the chancellorship, which he has been labouring

wmiam to do for some years."* Andrew Ammonius, referrino;

Warham

1503-32 *° ^is SUDJect as one in which the friends of Warham
took an interest, says in a letter to Erasmus, "Your
archbishop, with the king's good leave, has laid down
his post, which that of York, after much importunity,
has accepted."

If we have a fault to find with Warham, on a
review of this part of his conduct, we should accuse
him of carrying a Christian virtue to an extreme, and
of confounding Christian meekness with pusillanimity.
He addresses Wolsey with what we may regard as
terms of affection, the more remarkable when we bear
in mind the stiffness of the age, and the style of letter-
writing. On one occasion, when the archbishop took
part with the practitioners in the Court of Arches,
who complained of certain infringements upon their
privileges by the judges and practitioners in the Lega-
tine Court of the cardinal, Warham takes God to
witness that he writes under feelings of strong personal
attachment to his correspondent. He concludes, " for
I find your grace so loving to me and mine, that I do
hide nothing from your grace."

I cannot withhold the following letter from the
reader; it throws light upon the different characters
of the two men. We find in it the gentleness,

* Letters and Papers, Henry VIII. 1552. For the letter of
Ammonius, see Singer's Cavendish, i. 31. Singer makes Ammonius,
instead of Erasmus, the correspondent of More. It must be to the
same letter that he refers, though the expressions that he quotes
are rather stronger than what I have given above. He says : " The
archbishop hath at length resigned the office of chancellor, which
burden, as you know, he had strenuously endeavoured to lay down
for some years."

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 209

amounting to weakness, of Warham's character, and CHAP.

the assumption of superiority on the part of Wolsey, ,^-L,

who admonished the Primate of All England as if he ^J.^

had been an inferior. It is a letter from the arch- 1503-32.
bishop to Cardinal Wolsey : —

"Please it your good grace to understand that I have
received your most honorable and loving letters, dated at your
grace's place beside Westminster, the second day of this month
of March, by which I perceive how graciously you take in
good part my free and plain writing to* the same, whereof in
my most hearty wise I thank your grace, assuring you that
unless I had had in your grace's undoubted favors and
benignity towards me very singular trust and confidence to
write without displeasure, not only the plainness of my mind
but also such reports as were brought unto me, I would in no
wise have attempted to disclose my said mind and report so
openly.

" And whereas your grace adviseth me from henceforth to
give less credence to all those that have made such untrue

reports as be contained in my said letters, studying more to
make division than to nourish good amity and accord betwixt
your grace and me ; surely, albeit I rehearsed in my said
letters such reports as were written and spoken unto me, and
none otherwise, as I shall answer before God, yet I trust it
cannot be gathered of my said letters that I gave any firm
credence to those reports. For unfeignedly, whatsoever sur-
mises, sinister reports, or insinuations have been made or shall
be made unto me, by whatsoever means they come, they have
not, and shall not raise, kindle, or engender in me any part of
grudge of mind towards your grace, or else any mistrust in
your singular goodness, favors, and benevolence towards me,
which evidently towards me and mine by substantial experi-
ment appeareth daily more and more, which your grace's
manifold good deeds be more deeply fastened in my heart and
remembrance, than can be removed by any words or reports,
which your grace's goodness I am not able to recompense
with any other thing than with my faithful heart, true love
and daily prayer for your grace, whereof your grace, being
thus so good lord unto me, shall be so well assured as far as
VOL. VI. P

210 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, my little power shall be able to extend as of anything in this

world, or else I were far unkind and unthankful."*
William

Warham. There is extant a well-written letter in Latin, in
"32> which Warham mentions his having sent to the car-
dinal some small present, munusculum quod certe
perexiguum, neque tanto patre satis dignum extiterat.
The present was only small by comparison. Wolsey
was magnificent in everything, and in return he sent
through the archbishop, for the shrine of St. Thomas,
a costly jewel. The splendid jewel — -jocale illud pre-
ciosissimum — was sent by Dr. Samson, the cardinal's
chaplain. It served several purposes : it was a compli-
ment to the archbishop, it gratified the prior and
convent — confratres mei prior et commonachi eccle-
sm mece, — it was an offering to a saint whom the
servant of a self-willed king desired to conciliate. On
another occasion we find Warham so zealous in the
cause of the cardinal as to suspend " one Sir Henry,
the parson of Seven Oaks, which, as is surmised, hath
used unfitting language of your grace, otherwise than
seemed him to do/' A prime minister of that age
shared the protection which pertained to royalty.
The letter which Warham wrote does credit to his
heart. It was his duty to send the offender to the
cardinal, but he states, that the poor man was willing
to acknowledge his offence and to sue for pardon. For
this reason, it was hoped that the cardinal would
be "good, gracious, and piteous towards him." The
archbishop added, that he was a poor priest ; and that
it would be a pity for him to be dealt with severely or
put into prison. It was significantly added that he
could not bear " any great charge or cost ; but if the

* The letters quoted are in the British Museum j they have been
printed by Ellis, and in the Arch. Cant.

ARCHBISHOPS Or CAXTEEBUBT.

cardinal would be gracious lord unto him, now he
would be, at all times, readier to owe unto his grace

r™^"
In another letter, written like the former from his 1503-321

manor at Otford, and probably in 1522, he complains
to Wolsey of some negligence on the part of his sub-
ordinates. He begins thus : " Please it your good
grace to understand that this 22d day of April, in
the evening, sitting at my supper, I received the king's
grace most honorable letters, dated at Richmond, the
9th day of the said month, by the which I am com-
manded to send to Greenwich fifty ' habile persons,'
sufficiently harnessed, to do the king's grace service in

JITS, by the last day of the month of April/* He
then goes on to say that it was impossible for him to
meet the royal demand, unless the time were extended

ipplying the complement of men. He had received
no letters when the demand was made upon others in
his neighbourhood, and such " habile persons " as were
in his immediate neighbourhood had been already
taken up by other men. He had permitted this under
the supposition that no demand would be made upon
himself. To send "unhabile persons and other men's
leavings, I think should not stand with my poor
honesty." If he were to send to further places, to
Canterbury, for example, or to Charing, it would be
impossible to raise the men by the day appointed. He
prays, therefore, for an extension of time. From this
letter we see how the army was at this time recruited :
in the following we are admitted into the domestic
arrangements of the archbishop. There seems to
have been very little consideration shown for the con-
venience of persons whose services were at any time
required by the king or his minister. On another
occasion, the archbishop was summoned to London ;

p -2

LIVES OF THE

OH A?, the king and the cardinal desired to consult him upon
the state of public afiairs. The archbish

^\ Y>-..:--. ., . ^ . :>o\ :"M\ Angular good tad, tfttftfe )B M

subject of the Iv >ce that would be so glad i

•.uplish his highness oxnnuiandinent and your gra.
pleasure, as I to my little power would be, H
considering that my horses he at livery at Charing, and
that I have certain provision made as veil at Ganterb .
as at Charing, and also that I have no provision
me at Lambeth, against my coming thither. I see not
how it is eonveniev r me to be at Lam-

beth in $o hasty speed, and namely my age considered
and distance of place. Ho concludes with promising
be at Lambeth on the Friday or Saturday, and then
to give attendance on the king and on his grace. Ho
trusted through the cardinal^ loving information that
the king $ highness would take no displeasure
him,

In lo^, \Varham had the pleasure of consecrating
Dr. Tuustall* to the see of London. Then, as now,

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.214 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, in my power wherein I might or could do your grace plea-
sure, surely I will be most glad to do it."

Warham. Warham was a kind and zealous friend ; and
.1503-32. throughout his correspondence with Wolsey the kind-
ness of his heart was displayed. If we decide by
his words and actions, he was singularly free from
those little passions and jealousies frequently attri-
buted to him by those who are conscious that, in
the circumstances under which they have imagined
him to have been placed, would have been experi-
enced by themselves. We find the archbishop, in
another letter, entreating the cardinal to be " good
lord " to Owen Tomson, who was master of the arch-
bishop's mint, and was prosecuted, as the archbishop
thought unjustly, in the Court of Chancery.

This Owen Tomson had been previously sent to
London on the archbishop's own business. Certain
ordinances had been issued for the regulation of the
royal mint in the Tower of London ; the archbishop,
in writing to Wolsey, says : " Forasmuch as I doubt
not but that your grace well knoweth that, by the
grants of divers kings, the king's grace's most noble
progenitors, I and my predecessors, Archbishops of
Canterbury, have always had in the palace of Canter-
bury a mint for coinage, to the great commodity and
ease of the king's grace's subjects within this county
of Kent, and otherwise to the intent that I would
gladly that my mint should in like manner and form
be ordered according to the said new ordinances, I
beseech your good grace to show and declare your
grace's further pleasure and mind in this behalf to my
servant Owen Tomson, this bearer and keeper of my
said mint. Upon knowledge of which I have com-
manded him to follow the same in everything accord-
ingly." He concludes with saying, " In good faith,

ARCHBISHOPS Of CANTERBURY. 215

my lord, I desire not this for any great profit or CHAP.
advantage that I shall have by this coinage ; but _-v^
only for the ease of the king's grace's subjects, who -^J^
more commodiously resort to Canterbury than the 1503-32.
Tower."

Thus readily did the archbishop conform to the new
regulations of Wolsey's government. Wolsey per-
ceived, though Warham did not, that the regulation
of the issue of money must devolve upon the imperial
government before this important department in the
affairs of state could be satisfactorily arranged. The
convenience to which Warham alludes in having a
mint at Canterbury was certainly, at this time, not
overrated. If a man, being in want of money, was in
possession of plate, he sent his plate to a mint, and
received it back in the shape of coin. A journey to
London with this object solely in view would be
troublesome, expensive, and hazardous. The mint at
Canterbury was, indeed, at this time, in some danger,
and perhaps was only saved because its suppression
would have led to the suppression of the mints at
York and at Durham, and, in consequence, to the
inconvenience of the cardinal. Wolsey's mind was
so occupied with foreign politics, that he had no
time to carry out his plans for the home govern-
ment ; but, as in this instance, he probably only
deferred what his political sagacity perceived to be a
necessary reform. Wolsey was cut off in the midst
of his career.

AVe have a letter from Warham thanking Wolsey for
the advice he gave the king in this matter. He had
been advised by a lawyer whom he had consulted, on
A\ olsey's suggestion, to obtain a bill for the continuance
of his mint, but he would do nothing without the
consent and concurrence of Cardinal Wolsey.

216 LIVES OF THE

CHAP.

We have an account in Cavendish of the splendid
William arrangements for the celebration of divine worship in
1503-32. Cardinal Wolsey's chapel ; and we know the great
attention paid by Henry VIII. to the music of the
sanctuary ; an anthem of his composition is still sung
in our cathedrals. Henry VIII. attending service, on
a certain occasion, in Wolsey's chapel, was charmed
with the singing of one of the children, and the child
was immediately transferred from the cardinal's chapel
to the Chapel Royal. Wolsey took pleasure in imi-
tating his master and in showing his power even in
little things ; and having on one occasion attended
service in the archbishop's chapel, he served the primate
as he had been served himself, and application was
made for the transfer of a bass singer from the chapel
of the archbishop to that of Wolsey. The letter in
which Warham courteously accedes to Wolsey's re-
quest is valuable, not only because it shows the friendly
terms on which the two prelates lived, and the courtesy
of Warham, but also because we learn from it the
great care with which Warham attended to the moral
training of his household : —

" Please it your grace to know that hy my fellow-master,
Doctor Benet, your chaplain, 1 have understood that your
grace is desirous to have one Clement of my chapel, which
singeth a bass part. For the singular great kindness that I
find in your grace, not only the said Clement, but also any
other servant of mine which can or may do your grace any ser-
vice or pleasure, shall be alway at your grace's commandment.
Wherefore, according to your grace's mind, I now send the
said Clement to your grace, with these my letters, humbly
beseeching the same to be good and gracious Lord to him, if
it be your pleasure to have him to continue still in your
grace's service, assuring your grace that he is of very sad,
virtuous, and honest behaviour, and so hath continually used
himself for all the time that he hath been with me in service.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 217

There is not iu my house a better ordered, or yet a better con- CHAP,
ditioned, person. If there be any other service or pleasure

that I can do for your grace, upon knowledge of your grace's William

pleasure therein I shall be glad the same to accomplish to the Warham-

best of my little power." * 1503-32.

There is another letter, of uncertain date, which
shows the archbishop in the character of a friend to
the cardinal Had there been in him the jealousy so
often attributed to him, he would have made political
capital out of the circumstances to which the letter
refers. I can offer no comment upon the letter beyond
that which wall occur at once to the reader's mind : —

" Please it your grace to understand that at my last coming
to Canterbury I was informed of a certain White monk of the
monastery of Sutton, in Suffolk, which reported at Canterbury
and in other places, that your grace had suppressed the vsaid
monastery, and expulsed the religious men of the same, taking
from them their lands, jewels, goods, and chattels, by reason
whereof reported he that he was compelled (like as other his
brethren) to beg, or else to use some craft for his living, and
offered himself to serve in a tailor's shop in Canterbury, some-
times to other occupations, by which his report and remiss
behaviour I assure your grace there was an evil rumour and
bruit in these parts. And when I called him before me
secretly to be examined, he denied not but that he did so
report, but said it was not true. Forasmuch as this matter
toucheth your grace, I have sent him unto your grace further
to be ordered as your grace shall think good. Master
Hales, Baron of the Exchequer, can inform your grace of
this matter more at large.

" At Oxford, the 14th day of May.

" At your Grace's

" WILLM. CAXTUAB.

" To the most REVEREXD FATHER in GOD and my very
singular good LORD, my LORD CARDINAL of YORK,
and legate de latere, his good GRACE. "t

* Ellis, Third Series, ii. 54. + Ellis, Third Series, ii. 85.

218 LIVES OF THE

CHAP. In the year 1519, Charles V. visited England. War-

.^ ham was, at Otford, but having information that the

Waiham roval Party was to meet at Canterbury, he prepared
1503-32. to entertain them with his usual hospitality. Wolsey
was so accustomed to dictate his will to others, or to
control them by his influence, that he intended, on
this occasion, to direct the proceedings at Canterbury,
although the expense was to devolve upon "VVarham.
He wrote to Otford, begging the archbishop to meet
him at Canterbury to assist in making preparations for
the reception of the royalties. Warham despatched to
him the following letter, in which illness was perhaps
the pretext, rather than the real reason for not obey-
ing the summons. Its friendly tone, however, will be
remarked.

" After most humble commendations, I thank your good
grace as heartily as I can, that it hath pleased the same to
advertise me of the established and certain determination of
the emperor's majesty for his repair to the king's most noble
grace, and of the king's grace gifts for the meeting of the
emperor at Canterbury, and for the deducting of his majesty
to Winchester. My lord, I am very much bound to your
good grace for the manifold tokens of great favors and
kindness, which I find daily more and more increase in your
grace towards me, for which if I were able to do your grace
pleasure again, I were far unkind if I would not be very
diligent, ready, and glad to do it. And sorry I arn that I can
not be at Canterbury to give your grace attendance, and do
my duty accordingly at your grace's coming thither, which I
assure your grace I would not have failed to have done, if I
had not been diseased now of late, whereof I am not yet
wholly delivered.* Notwithstanding, I trust in God, that by

* From his disorder, whatever it was, the archbishop recovered
in time to give a splendid entertainment to his royal guests at
Canterbury. Henry VIII. was accompanied by Queen Katnerine,
who had come to meet their imperial nephew. Between the king
and tjie emperor some state affairs were first adjusted j and then

ARCHBISHOPS OF CASTEBBUEY.

that time that I have done my duty to the king's grace at my
poor house at Otford, I shall be able forthwith to journey to
Canterbury speedily, there to receive the king's grace and the
•emperor in my cathedral church. If there be anything in
those partes appertaining to me which may be to your
grace's pleasure, I desire your grace to use it as you would
your own."

On another occasion, when the cardinal had invited
the archbishop to a private conference on public affairs,
the latter was obliged to excuse himself. He could
only obey the summons by acting contrary " to the
counsel of his physician and by putting himself in
jeopardy." He would, nevertheless, give attendance
upon the cardinal, about the feast of the Purification of
our Lady, if God should send him any amendment of
health. He would then supply the information which
he was obliged to pretermit in his letters. He adds : —

" I thank your grace as heartily as I can for your grace's
manifold favors, shewn unto me, many ways heretofore, and
now specially that it hath pleased the same, not only to
advise me to make mine abode in high and dry grounds at
Knowle, and some other; but also to offer to me, of your
singular benignity and goodness, a pleasant lodging in your
most wholesome manor of Hampton Court, where I should
not decease, neither be diseased ; there to continue for the
attainment of my health as long as I shall think it expedient,
by which excellent benevolence and gratitude, expressing
evidently your grace's very tender love towards me and my
servants, I repute myself so much bounden to your grace as
I think myself far unable to deserve or requite your grace's
said favors and great humanity. Albeit, at all times I will be
ready and glad, with good heart and mind (and so your grace
shall find me sure), to do your grace any service or pleasure
that may lie in my little power. "Which my benevolence I
beseech your grace to accept, and take instead and place of
mutual beneficence, where my power is insufficient.

the royal personages and their attendants were entertained at the
incrediblu expense of Archbishop "Warharu. — Ar:h. Cant. i. 13.

LIVES OF THE

CHAP.
II.

William
"\Varhani.

1503-32.

"And I entirely thank your grace that it hath pleased the
same to write unto me in your last letters that your grace
would give order to your officers that as large and ample
favor shall be shewed to my nephew, Archdeacon of Canter-
bury, as to other archdeacons, touching their compositions
with your grace for their jurisdictions. And for a conclusion
to be taken for my said nephew his jurisdiction, I have now-
sent this bearer one of his procurators to your grace's
officers, to give attendance on them in that behalf.

" As touching my officer, the Dean of my Court of the
Arches, I trust I have given him such admonition as he will
remember during his life ; and be well ware to busy himself
in any matters which may sound to your grace's discontenta-
tion and displeasure. And that your grace hath not dealt
extremely with him ; but only trained him, with continual
attendance for his learning, to be more circumspect in time to
come, and that for my sake your grace hath also discharged
him of the said attendance, I heartily thank your grace,
affirming, without colour or simulation, that neither he, nor
any other officer, kinsman, or servant of mine, shall continue
in my service or favor which will hereafter willingly fall into
your grace's displeasure or indignation. And so I have
declared unto them myself, shewing how good and gracious
I find you towards me, and how that it hath pleased your
grace to write unto me that you will be as good unto them as
they can reasonably and justly desire, so that they use them-
selves accordingly towards your grace and yours, and as they
owe to do. In which good and favorable mind I beseech
your grace ever to continue, as you shall have me ever your
perpetual orator.

" I have now lately set up writings both at Knoll, Otford,
and Shoreham, against such as misentreated a certain appa-
ritor of your grace in these parts, that the said misdoers
appear before me within xv days, under the pain of cursing.
And I trust by that means, or else by other espials, to try
them out if it be possible, and then further to order them so
that all other shall be ware by them of such wilfulness and
contemptuous temerity."*

* Ellie, Third Series, ii. 39. The date of the year is seldom given

AKCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 221

So far from there being any antagonism between
"Warham and the great cardinal, the archbishop, on
more than one occasion, befriended Wolsey, under cir-
cumstances which would have afforded political capital
to a rival statesman, or an unfriendly ecclesiastic.

Under the unpopular government of Henry VII.
"Warham did not incur the odium which brought other
members of that king's council into trouble. He was
a man of kind and conciliatory manners ; and, when
he became resident in Kent, his influence, especially
in that county, was considerable. The people regarded
him as a Mend, when the measures of the government
were oppressive, and to his intercession they looked
when they were threatened by the anger of the king.

Several letters passed between Warham and Wolsey
with reference to a tax which the cardinal had uncon-
stitutionally imposed, and which Warham was obliged
by his duty to the king to enforce ; a duty which he
performed with reluctance. Wolsey had always a dis-
like of meeting parliament; he sought, in consequence,
to raise money by other means than through a parlia-
mentary grant. Benevolences had been abolished, and
in their abolition Warham had taken part ; but, though
not in name, they were, in reality, re-established, under
what Wolsey in sarcasm, or in policy, was pleased to
denominate an amicable and loving grant. Commis-
sioners were appointed, according to Hall, in the year
1525. They sent assistant commissioners into every
shire, " to raise money against the time the king
should cross the sea." The tenor was this, " that the

in these letters ; although the exact date of the letter just quoted
is not discernible, Sir Henry Ellis remarks that it must have been
rather earlier than 1526, for in that year Hampton Court was no
longer Wolsey's "most wholesome manor;" he had given it to the
king.

222 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, sixth part of every man's substance should, without

L, delay, be paid in money or plate to the king, for the

Warham Prosecution of his war." *

1503-32. The cardinal, as chief commissioner for London, un-
dertook to carry on the negotiation for this " amicable
and loving grant," with the mayor and corporation of
London. The dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk and other
great men were to act in their several counties ; the
Archbishop of Canterbury was the chief commissioner
for Kent.

The commissioners were to remind the people that
now was the time for the king to regain the French
crown, and to effect a complete conquest of France ;
the French army had been annihilated, it was said, by
the battle of Pavia. It was calculated that the old
enthusiasm in favour of a war with France would be
revived ; but it was a miscalculation.

On the 30th of March, the archbishop convened a
meeting of the noblemen and landed proprietors at
Otford, where he, at this time, chiefly resided ; almost
all the commissioners attended. A few showed some
readiness to make contribution to the king's grace for
his voyage into France ; but he found a great " un-
to wardness and difficulty " on the part of the majority.
They did not. however, venture upon a formal opposi-
tion, and when they were requested to sign a document
to signify their submission, they did not refuse to do
so. The archbishop expressed his conviction, however,

* Sir Henry Ellis observes that, when Wolsey wanted to raise
money by unconstitutional measures, he found some pleasant name
appropriate to the demand. Previously to the "amicable and loving
grant," he had in the fifteenth year of Henry VIII. issued a com-
mission to compel every man with 40£. a year to pay the whole of a
subsidy granted by parliament long before it was due. This he
called an anticipation. Wolsey's policy was to avoid Parliament;
Crumwell's to corrupt or control it.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 223

that there "would be a great difficulty in levying the CHAP.
grant, which, though assented to, was not accepted in _~,-L
a very amicable or loving spirit. The difficulty of ^aSam.
collecting the money was increased, and the hardship 1503-32.
to which the people were subjected was the greater,
since officers were, at that very time, collecting the last
instalment of a parliamentary subsidy. Many affirmed
that they had not means to meet even the last-mentioned
demand, although for that they had been husbanding
their resources. The archbishop acted as a true friend
to the cardinal. He had secret information, though
he declined to name his authority, of the discontent of
the people, and of their murmurings against the car-
dinal himself. " It hath been shewn me in secret that
the people sore grudgeth and murmureth, and speaketh
cursedly among themselves as far as they dare ; saying
that they shall never have rest of payment as long as
some one liveth, and that they had better die than be
thus continually handled ; reckoning themselves, their
children, and their wives as desperate, and not greatly
caring what they do, or what will become of them."

The other commissioners would only pledge them-
selves to lay before the people the demand, without
any intention to persuade them to pay it. They would
refer the people to the archbishop as chief commis-
sioner ; he expected disturbances, and besought the
cardinal to advise him how to act. It had been signi-
fied to the archbishop, that if he meddled in this affair
he would forfeit the popularity he now enjoyed ; but
to this sacrifice he would submit for the king's service.

After disclosing still further the murmurs of the
people, the archbishop goes on to show that the attempt
to create an enthusiasm in favour of a French war was
a failure. The public mind had received some princi-
ples of political economy. The nobles and gentry in

224 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, attendance upon the king, by spending their fortunes
^^ abroad, would enrich the French; while, through
•Sam. tlie exPenses of the war, the English would be thus
1503-32. doubly impoverished. It had now been perceived,
that the conquest of France would be actually in-
jurious to England ; for it would cause the seat of
government itself to be transferred to France. This
was the argument employed by the Lancastrian party
in the reign of Henry VI. ; and it was intended to be
significant to the reigning monarch.

In this conference, there was frequent allusion to
a forced loan, which had never been repaid. Some of
the commissioners, despairing of repayment, contended
that it would be only equitable to set off the debt
of the king to the people as part payment of the
"amicable and loving grant."''

The loan had been a source of much suffering and
annoyance ; it was an iniquitous manner of raising
money without the intervention of parliament. War-
ham, as has been said, was a popular man in Kent ;
and it was determined among the people to call upon
him to interpose between them and the king, and to
entreat him to repay what they had been constrained
to lend. There were large assemblages of the people ;
and the archbishop received information that a mob
was on its march to his residence at Knowle. His
influence was sufficient to prevail upon the people
to commission a deputation of the more substantial
yeomen to confer with him, and then peaceably to

* This letter is perhaps the most friendly, because it was out-
spoken, of all the letters of Warham to the Cardinal. It ought of
itself to have established the fact that their disagreements, which
were unfrequent, were only on public grounds. If "Warham had re-
garded himself as a rival politician to Wolsey, he had only to bring
the circumstances mentioned in the letter under the notice of the
king, and Wolsey would have been brought into trouble.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. --~)

disperse. " For commonly," observed the primate, " in a CHAP.
multitude, the more part lack both wit and discretion; _^_
and yet the same more part will take it upon them to -J^JJJ*™
rule the wiser." He pointed out to the deputation, that 1503-32.
they had fixed upon an inconvenient time to demand
repayment of the loan ; the king having been involved
in extraordinary expenses. He questioned them with
a vi'-w to ascertain whether they had been instigated
by any political adventurers ; he received for reply,
and th'-y wi-ro ready to confirm their assertion by oath,
that to their present course of conduct they were urged
by poverty only. Of those who had assembled it
might l)e truly said, and of their neighbours who re-
mained at home it might be most strongly affirmed,
that they "lacked both meat and money.' When
1 why they came to the archbishop, they answered
that he had been at the head of the commission, through
whom the loan had been pressed upon those, who, at
this time, waited upon him ; and they entreated him
to intercede on their behalf with the king, that he
would represent to him their poverty, and implore him
to pay his d«-bt. Tin.- archbishop desired them, to pre-
a petition, which he would present; their reply
hat they could not draw up a petition themselv-->.
and no one had courage to undertake to " write for
them, seeing it concern eth the king's highness."

If Warham had been a great man, he would have
dared the worst ; and, as many of his predecessors
would have done, he would have defended the cause
of the weak. But Warham declined to assist them, or
to permit any of his servants to do so. The people
were, many of them, justly indignant. It was reported
to the archbishop, that they used strong language when
adverting to his conduct. The archbishop immediately
sent a report of what had occurred to the king's
VOL. vi. Q

226 LIVES OF THE

iAi'. council; and evidently was under an apprehension, that

— he would be censured for not having had recourse to

£l. stronger measures for putting down these insurree-

03-32. tionary movements. He so far served the people, that

he warned the council, that some steps ought to bo

taken to pacify them ; and he concludes his despatch

with saying : " I have thus, by fair words, answered

and partly contented two assemblies which have como

to me on this matter ; thinking verily by fair words

and gentle entertaining they would be better ordered

than by rigorous means."

Warham, though not a great, was a good man : if
he had not the large heart to place himself at the head
of an injured people, and to demand what in justice
the government could not withhold ; he could, never-
theless, pity and sympathise with the people, and
deprecate those strong persecuting measures, winch
were more in accordance with the spirit of the age.
than soft words.

It was seldom, that the Archbishop of Canterbury
was on friendly terms with his chapter ; and a misunder-
standing arose between the prior and monks of Christ
Church on the one side, and Warham on the other so
serious, that the archbishop ceased to make his palaco
at Canterbury his chief place of residence. Neverthe-
less, to him they applied for protection in their diffi-
culties ; and the following letter, addressed by Warham
to Wolsey, reveals to us the kind of difficulty to which
an incorporated society might be at that time exposed :—

" Please it your most honorable grace to understand that I
hear say a report, that a servant of the king's grace has come
to Canterbury, at the commandment of the king's counsel (as
he saith) to have stabling for the king's horses, to be kept at
livery within the monastery of my church of Canterbury, show-
ing no letters of the king's grace, or other writings, declaring

ARCHBISHOPS OP CANTERBURY. 227

the said commandment. Sure I am that the king's highness
and your grace, well informed of the great charges that the
said monastery hath been and must daily be put into, will be
contented to spare the same from any such manner of ^

extraordinary charges. For the said monastery hath been so
burdened with receiving and entertaining both of the king's
grace's most noble ambassadors and other princes, and of other
honorable personages passing by that way, beside the king's
grace and the emperor's late being there, beside also finding
of men to war, above great subsidies and great loans, that if
such charges or other like should continue, the same might-
after be utterly decayed, which I would be very loath to see
in my time. And I trust verily that your grace, for the
great devotion that your grace oweth to Christ's Church, and
to the blessed martyr, St. Thomas, will be contented of your
goodness to put some remedy that no su-.-h n« w charges be
induced ; but will be so gracious to your religious bedemen
. as to discharge them thereof, specially where the said
monastery standeth far off from the king's grace continual
abode, to keep any livery of horse cooimodiously for the
king's grace use."

The amicable relations which existed between the
primate and the cardinal have been traced. as an his-
torical fact, in their mutual correspondence. We mu>t
not alter facts because we cannot account for them : '
but we may bring other facts in juxtaposition, in
order that we may explain the reason why between.
two great men misunderstandings were inevit-
able ; and why also these inevitable disagreements
in some public transactions did not lead to any per-
manent violation of their friendship. The fact last
mentioned is, no doubt, to be attributed in part to the
yielding disposition of Warliam, his indolence, and his
generous determination, on public grounds, not to be
led into a quarrel which might frustrate an important
measure ; to effect which lie had. made concessions
which may by some persons be regarded as m>jusu-

Q -2

228 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, fiable. That Warham was, on some occasions, severely

~-^ tried, we shall have to show ; and such trials we should

• Warham nave expected to find, when the person with whom he

1503-32. was prepared to act was Cardinal Wolsey. Wolsey

had many of the faults as well as most of the merits

of a powerful, self-reliant, energetic mind. He was

overbearing, dictatorial, impatient of contradiction ;

and, as is the case very frequently with self-raised

men, he was extremely sensitive of any supposed

omission of respect to his station, or deference to his

opinion. When he had a point to carry, he was

regardless of the feelings of others. When they sug-

• gested objections, or offered the slightest opposition,

he was equally regardless of their rights. Hence his

enemies were venomous and bitter. Although he was

a man of kindly feelings, he ruled and sought to rule

by fear rather than by love. Upon a mind capable of

kind affections the gentleness of Warham had an effect,

similar to that of the soft answer that turneth away

wrath.

But we must look beneath the surface of things, if
we would do justice to both Wolsey and Warham ; to
the one for yielding, and to the other for grasping,
inordinate power. They had a common public object.
The times required a dictator, before whom the consul
'was content for a season to bow his fasces ; the archi-
'episcopal. mitre was to yield precedence to the cardinal's
"red hat, and the pillars of the latter were to supersede
the crosier of the primate. To understand what has
just been advanced, we must revert to a subject which
has been fully treated in a preceding volume. In
the introductory chapter to the third book, we have
traced to the miserable condition of the ecclesiastical
'courts the increasing unpopularity of the clergy.
Many who did not agree in their opinions in regard to

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 229

a reformation of the Church, were unanimous and CHAP,
clamorous in their unanimity for ecclesiastical and

rpfnrm William

reiorm. warham.

I have stated, that considerable allowance must be 1503-33.
made for the one-sided exaggerations of party men in
the declamations of Gerson and his contemporaries, in
their denunciation of the immoralities of medisevalism ;
but the facts which come to light in the correspondence
of Erasmus and his contemporaries we cannot pass
over. Erasmus sometimes employed hyperbolical ex-
ions, and we are not to understand a witty letter-
writer too literally ; we should not, for example, bet
justified in believing Germany to be little better than
the infernal regions ; neither may we flatter ourselves
that England was an exception to general corruption — •
" the least corrupt portion of the world," — because, as
Erasmus says, from its insular position, it is out of
it. But Erasmus, though witty as a satirist, was, by
no means, severe as a moralist ; and society, as repre-
sented by him, required a revulsion, such as nothing
ihan the Reformation could have effected.*

Ungrateful princes disbanded their soldiers, when,
at the sudden conclusion of a peace, their services
were no longer required. The soldiers, becoming
ruffians, made a prey of the people who had been
previously ruined by taxation to support them in tur-
bulence and crime. Nobles, as selfish as their princes,
surrounded their habitations by dependents ever ready
for depredation ; and these, turned suddenly adrift,
when the aristocrat was summoned from the provinces
to the court, swelled the bands of robbers. These
bands were still further increased by the poor, who
were ousted from their farms, now turned into sheep-

* Erasrn. Epist Append, ccxxxix. cccv.

230 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, -walks, and were robbed of their commons, through the

, 1_ inclosure of which the wealth)' sought to become more

Wari'am. wea-lthy. For the most trivial offences criminals were
i.''):;-32. condemned to death, and the thief became a murderer
from fear of the halter. Tradesmen and even pilgrims
found it unsafe to travel by land or by water. Where
property wan secure a sottish selfishness prevailed,
which, thus encouraged by friars, polluted the monas-
teries themselves. It was not to be supposed that either
mansions or monasteries would be exempt from scan-
dals, when of all scandalous places the most corrupt was
the Court of Rome. The age which could tolerate an
Alexander VI, a Csesar Borgia, and a Julius II, must
have been an age of deep corruption ; and the age of
Henry VIII, of Francis I, and Charles V, who sacrificed
millions of lives to amuse themselves on the battle-
field or to usurp dominion, was not an age when life
or property was likely to be much regarded. The
multitude, who tolerated such popes and applauded
these princes consisted of men, who felt that in such
situations their conduct would have been the same.
Machiavelli would not have written, unless he had
been persuaded in his own mind that he was address-
ing himself to readers v.iio, while sympathising with
him in his lax and selfish morality, would applaud the
courage which induced him to throw aside the mask
hitherto worn by cowards. Unless Italy under the
Renaissance had been paganized, Leo X. would not
have presided over a court in which Jupiter and the
deities of Olympus were regarded as highly as the
one and only God Whom Christians are taught to
worship. That for such a lax state of morality the
clergy was, to a great extent, responsible is a fact which
it is impossible to deny. To uphold the cause of
nioralitv bv word and deed was their first and bounden

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 231

duty. But there is in these cases action and reaction ; CHAT.
the world might have been worse except for their J-.-L
interference ; while they, mingling with the world, -J^"!.
too frequently shared in the corruptions, and by 15
sharing, countenanced them. They were open to
strong temptations through the celibacy, which both
Rome and the world combined to enforce upon them.

We are, however, happy to know that, if the world
was bad, as a fallen world will ever be, there were in-
stances innumerable of men leading sober, righteous,
and godly lives. We can mention, as representative
men, contemporaries of Warhain, who, in every class
of life, proved that the leaven of Christianity was still
working in society. We may appeal to the wonderful
<;>f the works of Erasmus himself, to show, that
moral teaching as well as literature had its many advo-
in all parts of Europe ; and, as Erasmus declares,
•ially in England. When Erasmus and Luther
spoke, theirs was only the voice of genius giving
utterance to the pent-up feelings of Christendom. To
the call of Erasmus, preceding that of Luther, the
Archbishop of Canterbury and the leading characters
in England gave a cordial response.

What is said of the laity is true of the clergy. Bad

as many of the clergy certainly were, we have high

rnony to the fact that, as a body, no general charge

of immorality could be brought against them. When

the Parliament of 15-9 was convened, the House of

imnons had been packed, and, to gratify the king's

malice against the clergy on account of their being, as

a body, opposed to him on the Divorce question, the

mmons were required to make themselves acceptable

to the king by bringing against the clergy all manner

of accusations. They legislated severely, but wisely ;

they attacked them in detail, but no sweeping charge

232 LIVES OF THE

.CHAP, of immorality against the whole body of the clergy did
_^_ they venture to bring. It is not probable, that men
WarSS wnose very existence, as a body, depends upon their
1503-32. upholding the laws they have vowed to enforce, would
be pre-eminent in vice, as Puritan writers affirm.
Their temptation would be rathsr to hypocrisy. There
was, we may feel sure, at all times, many a parish
priest remote from public view, such as he who is
described by Chaucer. We must admit that charges
of immorality could be substantiated against several of
the clergy who held high positions in society ; but they
paid the compliment to virtue by concealing their
faults from public gaze, and this proves that the public
mind was not entirely perverted. Even here modern
writers have frequently represented the case as worse
than it really was, by giving to the terminology of the
sixteenth century the meaning attached to words in
the nineteenth. For example, we know from public
documents that many of the clergy were married men.
The monks made a vow of chastity, as it was called,
that is, they bound themselves to celibacy. No vow
was exacted from the clergy. They violated a canon,
and were obliged to submit to the penalty if it were
enforced, but they contrived to escape prosecution.
Their marriage was voidable, not void. Cranmer was
a married man long before he became, in any sense of
the word, a Protestant, and while he was condemning
to the stake those who held the Protestant doctrine
with reference to the Eucharist. Now these clergy were
regarded by rigid disciplinarians as unchaste persons,
and were accused of living in a state of concubinage.*

* In the year 1521, Henry VIII. issued a proclamation against
the married clergy. The document is, on more grounds than one,
important. It shows how the royal supremacy existed as a fact,

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. ' 233

We may adduce another case. An intrigue between
a monk and a nun was regarded as incestuous. The
offence was a great one, no doubt, but it hardly sub-
stantiates the declaration of some party writers, when 1503-32.
they speak of incest as being a common crime of the
a^e, understandinc- the word in its modern sense.

O ~ O

But when, in a desire to deal fairly to all parties, we
have made ever}' allowance that justice can demand,
we have still to account for the extreme unpopularity
of the clergy at this time.

The bishops during the middle age were frequently,
we should speak more correctly if we should say
generally, employed in the civil service ; or perhaps
lould be still more correct, if we were to say that
statesmen, lawyers, and diplomatists received, very fre-
quently, bishoprics as the reward of their services to

before Henry openly claimed it. Though the married clergy are
described as few, we may regard this as a mask. If they had been
really few in number, they would have been dealt with individually.
It runs thus : " The king's majesty, understanding that a few in
number of this his realm, being priests, as well religious as other,
have taken wives and married themselves, &c., his highness, in no
wise minding that the generality of the clergy of this his realm
should, with the example of such a few number of light persons,
proceed to marriage, without a common consent of his highness
and his realm, doth therefore strictly charge and command as well
all and singular the said priests as have attempted marriages that
be openly known, as all such as will presumptuously proceed to the
same, that they nor any of them shall minister any sacrament, or
other ministry mystical ; nor have any office, dignity, cure, privilege,
profit, or commodity heretofore accustomed and belonging to the
clergy of this realm ; but shall be utterly, after such marriages,
expelled and deprived from the same. And that such as shall,
after this proclamation, contrary to this commandment, of their
presumptuous mind take wives and be married, shall run into his
grace's indignation, and suffer further punishment and imprison-
ment at his grace's will and pleasure. Given this 16th day of
November, in the thirteenth -year of our reign." — Wilkins, iii. 690.

234 LIVES OF THE

«:HAP. the crown. The consequence was, that a resident
. J^L/! diocesan, in process of time, became not the rule but
WaSlam ^e excepti°n- When a diocesan resided, he "brought
1J03-32. his court with him, and, making his cathedral city a
place of importance, he was popular. Of this we
have an instance in the case of "Wolscy himself.
When, on his fall, he intimated his intention of re-
tiring from the world, and of residing in his diocese,
Yorkshire rose, as one man, to bid him welcome ; and
the jealousy of his enemies in the king's house was
4-xcited.

The closed palaces of non-resident diocesans, though
doles were issued from the gates to the poor, neither
offered hospitality to the gentry, nor afforded employ-
ment to the tradesman. Within the sanctuary, the
episcopal functions were not neglected. They were,
however, discharged by bishops in partibus, who
chanced to be residing in the country, or by suffragans
employed permanently or for the occasion. For the pur-
poses of piety these sufficed ; but, by the worldly, the
suffragan was despised, who could not hold a feast
in his halls, or take his place among the nobles of
the land. The tenants grudgingly paid an income,
which was to be spent in London or in foreign lands.
This abuse had become a popular grievance, and was
made a ground of complaint when it became Henry's
policy to attack the clergy. Hence the unpopularity
of the hierarchy.

But this, it will be recollected, was not the greatest
calamity which devolved upon the Church through
the non-residence, in so many instances, of the dioce-
san. In every diocese, subsequent to the conquest,
a spiritual court was established, over which the
bishop nominally presided. When the diocesan was
employed on state affairs or foreign missions, as he

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 235

employed a suffragan or an ITTLO-KOTTOS a-^oKalos to CHAP.
perform his spiritual duties, so he delegated his autho- - — ^~
rity as a judge to his chancellor or archdeacons. -\\Vrhaiu.
These, again, in some dioceses, allowed their officials iw.-s-i.
to become ordinaries. The courts of these function-
aries gradually and imperceptibly assumed ordinary
jurisdiction, until in the majority of dioceses by the
common law of the Church, archdeacons ceased to act
with delegated authority, and became ordinaries.*
They held their courts nominally in subordination
to the bishop of the diocese, who had right of visi-
tation and appeal, that is, of extraordinary jurisdiction ;
but the archdeacons had a seal of their own, and, in
their own name, opened their courts. They held
annual visitations, subject to the triennial visitation
of the bishop ; but their obnoxious courts met once
n month, or at stated times.f Although these offices

* An ordinary is a judge, who lias a certain independent juris-
diction, with which, no superior can interfere, except under certain
specified conditions, or on special occasions. The superior officer is
generally regarded as a judge of appeal or a visitor. The visitor of
a corporation aggregate is generally prohibited from visiting except
once in a specified number of years, or to make inquiry under an
alleged grievance. His is not the ordinary, but the extraordinary,
jurisdiction. It is necessary to make the observation for the follow-
ing reason. In the year 1532, a supplication was addressed by the
House of Commons to Henry VIII, complaining of the conduct of
ordinaries, and Foxe and his followers, either not seeing or pur-
posely overlooking the distinction, speak of this as a supplication
against the bishops. Bishops were the chief ordinaries, the vrdlnarii
Gfdinariorum, and were therefore included in the censure ; but not
exclusively. The terms ordinary and bishop are not convertible
terms ; for a bishop may exist without ordinary or any other juris-
diction. An archdeacon or chancellor may be an ordinary ; a
suffragan bishop may have no jurisdiction whatever, actiug only as
the delegate of the diocesan, pro tempore. ]5y confounding the
titles in this instance the real grievance is overlooked.

t Harrison, Pref. to Hulinshel

236 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, were, for a short time, held as stepping-stones to
— ^. higher preferment by great men, yet the archdeacons,
as a rule> w^re men of inferior education, selected as

1503-32. judges from the practitioners of the ecclesiastical
courts. Of these courts some exist to the present
hour ; and the chancellor or judge, though an ordinary,
is not unfrequently a layman. In a few dioceses, the
archdeacons are merely the delegates of the bishop ;
but, in the more ancient dioceses, they still have courts
of their own.

In the middle ages, the judges and officers in these
courts were remunerated, not by fixed salaries, but
by the payment of fees ; and, in the shape of fees, the
demands were sometimes exorbitant. Suitors were
compelled to pay, not according to a fixed scale, but
according to their supposed capabilities ; hence there
was incessant wrangling on the subject. It was the
interest of the judges and practitioners to absorb all
kinds of suits in the ecclesiastical courts. They dealt
with matrimonial causes, with probate of wills, with
all that related to social contracts. As we have
shown before, for every supposed moral offence any
one, at any time, might be summoned before an eccle-
siastical judge, and, even if acquitted, the case was
not dismissed until the fees were paid. So that often
it was a saving of time, of trouble, and of annoyance,
if not of money, to bribe into silence the clerical
accuser of the brethren. These accusers of the
brethren were clergymen who, acting as chantry
priests, brought down upon the chantries their own
unpopularity, and were little better than pettifogging
attornies in search of prey. When any of them settled
in a neighbourhood, the whole parish was fretted, and
reduced to a state of normal irritation. No one knew
whether he was safe. For any chance action, word

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 237

or look, any one might unexpectedly be called to CHAP.
account. The judges, too often selected from this

3 of the clergy, co-operated with them. With
judges and advocates there was but one object, rein 1503-32.

e modo. If the money could not be extorted

fine. it might be abstracted as hush-money, though

there was really nothing to be hushed. While the

high-spirited defied the enemy, the humble and meek

paid their money to purchase a quiet life.*

inst these courts, and against the non-residence
of the diocesans, the popular feeling was increasing in
violence every year. The hostility to the clergy who
practised in these consistorial courts extended to the
whole order. For the welfare of the clerical body, for
the cause of the Church or of Christianity itself, the
guilty i l.-r-y, unfortunately, cared nothing. No lucre
in their eyes, filthy, and they went on grinding
down the poor and irritating the rich. In the pro-
vincial courts, as distinguished from the diocesan, and
which sat chiefly in London, there was a superior
class of practitioners, and to these vulgar malpractices
there was less temptation to resort ; other abuses, how-

r, existed, tending to exasperate the public mind,
when the public were looking out for grievances in
this direction, and demanding reform.

The Church had, in former times, been the protector
of the poor against the rich ; but in this age, when the
depression of the poor in every quarter was becoming
almost intolerable, the Church was able to do little,
and attempted next to nothing. That this was not
owing to any want of will on the part of the higher
ecclesiastics we have an instance in what occurred
soon after "Warham's appointment to the primacy. In

* See voL iii. of this work, p. 35, -where the case is fully
:ed.

238 LIVES OF THS

'HAT. the ecclesiastical courts, as in all other courts, a very

L evil practice prevailed. The judges were dependent

\v:uium. f°r tlwir remuneration partly, as lias been just re-
1.10:1 r;-2. counted, upon fees, and upon emoluments of office. It
was an established custom for a judge to receive.
money from suitors in their courts. The money was.
not advanced to purchase a judgment in favour of the
suitor, for the money was often proffered and accepted
by both parties in the same suit ; the object was to
induce the judge to appoint the cause for hearing at
an early period in the term. The consequence was.
that a poor man's case might be delayed for years,
owing to his inability to provide this honorarium.
Term after term would come to an end before his ease
could be heard. He saw the rich, one after another,
descending into the Bethesda, and, if the water had
been troubled by an angel, it would have been troubled
in vain, so far as he was concerned. Archbishop
\Varham determined at once to rectify this abuse.
Having matured his plans, early in February 1.307,
he issued from Lambeth his regulations and statutes
for the Court of Audience. They may be found in
Wilkins, and consist of nine articles. The second is
the one of real practical importance, framed to meet
the evil just brought under the reader's notice. It
assigned advocates and proctors for poor people with-
out fee, and gratis. All ministers of the court were
to waive their fees, in the case of the poor, and to
receive nothing. The judge was required to expedite
the causes with all possible dispatch, and to take
nothing from the parties through the whole course of
the process. In the event of any advocate or proctor,
so appointed by the judge, appearing unusually negli-
gent or remiss in the management of a poor man's
case, or of his refusing to proceed with the cause

AKCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 239

without money payment, he was to be for ever dis- CHAP
qualified from practising in the court.* — .-L.

With these facts before them, the biographers of ^£"
AYarham may well complain of the unfairness of i.-,
those historical writers who, following Foxe both in
his imaginations and in his prejudices, represent the
archbishop as having neglected his duty for thiity
years, and of attempting an effete reform in his courts,
only when he was threatened with the interference of
parliament. At that time AYolsey had fallen into
disgrace, and the archbishop merely resumed the
iv fi urns which he had himself commenced at an
early period of his episcopate, and which he had
wiselv, perhaps, though unconstitutionally, delegated
to AYolsey.

AYarham, a reformer, perceived the weak poin1
in the ecclesiastical system. He recognised the
iniquitous proceedings of the ecclesiastical courts :
he saw how, for filthy lucre's sake, a large body of
the clergy were not only bringing disgrace upon
themselves, but were also doing injury to the souls
of men, by alienating their affections from religion
and exasperating them against the Church. He ac-
knowledged, that what was intended to promote the
cause of morality was now perverted by the worship-
pers of mammon, and that God was blasphemed in
order that ecclesiastical lawyers might fill their purses
with gold. He attempted a reform : but the guilty
persons had obtained high appointments, and how
they could abuse their powers was to be seen in the
case of Hun, whatever opinion may be formed of
the merits or the demerits of that particular case. A
whole profession, for such these lower practitio;

f "VTilkins, iii. 65. Godolphin, Eepertorium Canonicum, 103.
asserts that the same rule was enforced in tlie Court of Arches.

240 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, had become, were ready to resist the archbishop,

, — ^ not openly but firmly. The vis inertice of a heavy

w^ham. mass °f unscrupulous men, who, in themselves, offered

1503-32.

"A cloudy barrier dense,"

was not to be dispersed, or, by the ordinary course of
proceedings, overcome.

The time had arrived when the commonwealth was
in danger. It became the duty of the consul to
make way for a dictator. We may, with our modern
experience, censure the proceeding ; but the course of
Warham and Wolsey was intelligible and upright.
The two primates, Warham and Wolsey, came to an
understanding. The ecclesiastical courts could not
be extinguished or reformed by any ordinary juris-
diction, or by proceedings under the usual forms of
the national Church. The diocesans had permitted
a power to rise in their respective dioceses which
they could not control. How vast that power was
is proved by the fact that these ecclesiastical courts
were neither suppressed nor entirely reformed until
the reign of Queen Victoria. Even partially to effect
the object which Warham had in view, a despotism
was required. The only course which presented itself
to Wolsey's mind was that, of asserting despotic
rights on the part of the pope, of bringing the
national Church in subjection to the Bishop of Kome,
and of then calling on the pope to exercise those
rights through the agency of a legate d latere. Wolsey
would, as a temporary measure, meaning by that
during his own lifetime, supersede all national juris-
dictions, including that of the primacy itself. Such
a thing had never before been heard of in England.
Such powers the pope had never attempted to exer-
cise in any national council, prior to the defeat of

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 241

the councils in the preceding century. Two centuries CHAP.
ago, such an attempt would have subjected an English _^L.
ecclesiastic to the punishment of a traitor ; and, if ^TjJJjjJJJ
made by the pope, would have antedated the extinc- 1503-32.
tion of all papal pretensions in England. But Henry
A III. was, at this time, in spite of the remonstrances
of Sir Thomas More, a Papist : and to every advice,
cautiously offered by AVolsey, the king was prepared
to listen.

The case then stood thus : a complete reformation
of the ecclesiastical courts in England and of other
matters in the Church, was necessary ; the Archbishop
of Canterbury was not strong enough to overcome the
obstruction to reform, which it was the interest of
many persons to throw in his way ; "Warham was
willing, therefore, for a time to recede from his high
position, and to place all things under the direction of
a papal plenipotentiary, a legate d latere. This was
not to be a permanent surrender of his powers as
Archbishop of Canterbury and Primate of All England.
Although "\Volsey subsequently obtained a grant of
the legatine power for his life, it was originally
'1 that he should exercise it only for seven years.
If \\ arhain had been an ambitious man, he might
have sought the legatine power for himself ; but his
position would then have been more anomalous, and
he must have been quite aware, that what the king
would concede to his favourite he would not have
granted to one who, under these circumstances, would
have found in the favourite an antagonist. At all
events, Warham acquiesced, without reluctance, in
"\\ olsey's appointment ; though he did not realize
beforehand the amount of concession which "Wolsey
demanded. A great work was to be done by a great
man, and to accomplish it, the great man was to be
vi. R

242 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, invested with all requisite authority, temporal and

spiritual.

Warham. This point being conceded, however, various details

1503-32. required arrangement ; and we are surprised that, in
making them, the misunderstandings which took place
between the two primates should be so few. Had
Warham been of a captious disposition, they would
have been multiplied. Wolsey was to exercise extra-
ordinary visitatorial powers ; but the common law of
the Church of England and her courts, though virtu-
ally suspended, was not to be finally superseded.
Having effected his object of reform, the legate d latere
was to withdraw ; and on his withdrawal all things
were to resume their original position, the corruptions
only removed. Thus was the case conceded d priori.
Wolsey's disposition was to push to an extreme what-
ever powers he possessed. It was Warham's duty to
guard against any such exercise of the legatine authority
as might act injuriously upon the permanent authority
of existing institutions. We are sometimes surprised
to see how easily Warham withdrew an opposition
which he offered to some exercise of authority on the
part of Wolsey : why did he object, we are inclined to
a«k, or if he objected why did he not persevere in his
objection 1 Bearing in mind the agreement between
the . two prelates, we can understand, why Warham
may have demurred to a particular line of conduct,
when first a case was brought under his notice, and yet
be persuaded to acquiesce in the proceeding, when it
was proved to him that it did not really interfere with
a conceded principle of action. On the one hand,
this arrangement was facilitated by the ambition of
Wolsey, anxious by grasping at power to further his
own designs ; on the other, Warham's natural indo-
lence, his infirm health, and his desire of literary

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 243

leisure, made him sufficiently compliant to the will of
the master mind with which he was called to act.
Difficulties and objections seldom suggested themselves
to Warham's mind, and he was urged to make a com-
plaint when a complaint was made by others. I see no
reason for doubting, that both were influenced by high
public principle, though temper and self-interest some-
times interfered. Wolsey felt, that reform was neces-
sary, and, knowing his powers, believed, that he was
the only man to effect it, though one year succeeded
another without his finding leisure to address his
powerful mind to domestic policy or ecclesiastical
affairs. Warham believed that a great end would be
accomplished by his submitting, at some self-sacrifice,
to the degradation of his high office. He was occasion-
ally taken by surprise, when Wolsey assumed more
than "Warham had intended to grant ; and when the
tenaciousness of Wolsey descended to little points,
which we should have supposed to be beneath the
consideration of his great mind. Warham was willing
to permit the appointment to the cardinalate, to settle
differences. When Wolsey was translated to York,
one of the weak points of his character made itself
apparent, by his insisting on his right to earn* his cross
erect in the province of Canterbury. Warham was
indifferent on the point ; but at the persuasion of
others offered a feeble resistance. This point of eti-
quette— for, though at one time it involved a principle,
such it had now become — was settled when Wolsey
received the red hat ; in accordance with the concession
made by Archbishop Chicheley, with which the reader
is already acquainted.

When the two primates had come to an understand-
ing, Wolsey was to interest the king in the cause.
With the king he found no difficulty ; the difficulty

244 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, was on the side of the pope, who as a politician had
.— ^_ no inclination to invest the powerful minister of the
Warham. King of England with additional authority. This,
1503-32. however, had the effect of making King Henry the
more determined to carry the point of his favourite.
Times indeed were changed from what they had been
in the reign of Henry V. Henry V. had declared
himself, it will be remembered, ready to sacrifice his
crown rather than permit a Roman cardinal to reside
in England, or the servant of a foreign potentate to
have a voice in the English councils. Henry Beaufort
dared not show his red hat in England, until he had
first obtained a royal pardon from the king for having
been accepted in the cardinalate ; and, when he was in-
vested with the insignia of office, it was done privately
and at Calais. Instead of sharing in the patriotic
sentiment, Henry VIII. became actually a suppliant
to the pope on behalf of his favourite ; and it is not
too much to say that, except for the urgency of Henry
to the unwilling pontiff, Wolsey would never have
been a cardinal. This statement fills the honest mind
with disgust, when it is made in anticipation of
Henry's subsequent conduct to Wolsey and the English
clergy, hereafter to be mentioned. Let it be impressed
upon the mind. We have before us the correspon-
dence on the occasion. We find the pope pleading
as an excuse for his not acceding to the king's
wishes, that it would involve him in difficulties. By
the Kino; of the Romans and by the Kins; of France

o «/ o

similar applications in favour of their ministers would
certainly be made.

When at length, the pope through weakness yielded,
he still demurred to the appointment of Wolsey as a
legate d later e. Unless he were, however, appointed
a legate d latere, with permission to visit the exempt

AECHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. -45

monasteries, Wolsey knew that he could not become a
reformer. It may be that, aware of the object, and
distrusting "\Volsey 's discretion as a reformer at a
time when his attachment to the papal see had not
been tested, the pope was averse to the appointment
which Wolsey sought, with his usual determination not
to be frustrated. In the course of the correspondence,
still extant, "Wolsey hints that it was only by yielding to
the royal demand on this point that the pope could be
secure of the friendship of the King of England. Even
this hint, significant a.s it was, was not sufficient.
There was to be a bribe delicately administered. On
the 7th day of September, the pope expresses his
gratification at hearing, that the King of England
had granted to him half a tenth from his clergy in aid
of the Roman Church. That the object of the grant
was understood and duly appreciated is proved by the
declaration by the pope of his determination to insist
on Wolsey 's immediate promotion in spite of all the
cardinals. On the 15th of September, Julius, cardinal
de Medici, writes to Henry VIII, affirming that
A\ olsey's promotion was a proof of the pope's anxiety
to please the king. On the 20th of September,
Sebastian Giustiniani writes to the Doge of Venice,
that a courier had arrived from Rome with a state-
ment, that " Wolsey had been created a cardinal at the
re of the King of England, who was bent on
aggrandizing him with might and main." On the 30th
of September, Henry sends an autograph letter from
A\ indsor, to Pope Leo X, affirming, that nothing had
given the king so much pleasure, in all his life, as
the breve announcing the election of Wolsey to the
College of Cardinals, and the additional honour con-
ferred by the pope's oration on the occasion. The pope
had outdone all the king's expectations, and Henry

246 LIVES OF THE

CHAP. x esteemed the distinction thus bestowed upon a subject
_^_ for whom he has the greatest affection both for his
Warham unusual gifts and most excellent services, as a favour
1503-32. done to himself.*

This, let it be repeated, is the man who, a few years
after, impeached Wolsey, and not Wolsey only, but
Archbishop Warham and all the clergy of England, for
acceding to a measure of which he was himself the
author. The clergy had violated the laws, in their
ignorance of the stringent enactments, unrepealed
and in full force, against the papacy. They ought,
no doubt, to have brought the law to bear upon
Wolsey, to have denounced and to have prosecuted
him ; they ought to have demolished his legatine
courts, when he dared to set them up, in the pope's
name against the spiritual courts of the Church of
England, over which the primate and his suffragans,
now defied, had been appointed by the constitution to
preside. What their fate would have been if to such
a course they had resorted in 1515, it is not difficult
to surmise. The only resistance, faint though it was,
that was offered to the exercise of Wolsey 's legatine
power, was offered by the clergy ; and against the
clergy, a few years after, Henry VIII, the chief, the
most inexcusable offender, appeared as the accuser,
the judge, the diabolus, and the executioner. We may
withhold our pity from them, and they had only their
ignorance, shared with the king, to urge in their de-
fence. But, be that as it may, if Henry had conducted
himself in a manner so unprincipled and tyrannical
against men or women who had not been admitted to

* See the Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the
reign of Henry VIII, Xos. 91, 374, 780, 887, 910, 929, 960.
Others may have escaped my search ; but these are abundantly
sufficient.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 247

holy orders, our indignation could have known no CHAP.
bounds. There are times when the clergy are justly __
unpopular for a neglect of their duty ; but they are -J^.^
pledged to seek the favour not of man but of God, and 1503-32.
by the profane and careless, they are most hated when
they best perform this duty.

When the red hat was granted, its arrival in Eng-
land was anxiously looked for by Wolsey. The
cardinal had promised that the bringer of the hat
should be handsomely rewarded. On the 7th of
October, a letter was despatched by the Bishop of
Worcester,* stating' that he had entrusted the precious
treasure to the safe keeping of his friend Bonifacio. A
greater honour was in store for the royal favourite. It
was usual to send the hat (p ileus) without a ring. On

* The see of Worcester appears to have been assigned in this and
the preceding reign as a kind of retaining-fee for foreign prelates,
who were severally employed to act as the King of England's
minister at Rome. Silvester de Gigliis was the nephew, or, as
some said, the son, of John de Gigliis, who had previously held the
see of Worcester. Silvester was arch-presbyter of Lucca. Pre-
viously to his consecration he had stalls in Wilts, in Lincoln, in
York, and in Salisbury. He was consecrated at Rome in 1498.
(Stubbs, 73.) He sat in the Council of Lateran. 1512. He was
King's orator at Rome in 1505, and was the Papal collector in
England. He died on the 10th of April, 1521, and was buried at
Rome. (Stubbs, Le Xeve, Duifus Hardy.) His predecessor,
John de Gigliis, was a doctor of laws, at Lucca. He was Rector
of Swaffham, Saxeham, St. Michael's, Crooked Lane. He held
stalls in Wilts, in St. Paul's, Lincoln, and York. In 1487, he was
Archdeacon of Gloucester. In 1 i82, he was Dean of Wells. He
was king's proctor at Rome, and papal collector in England, where
he obtained large sums by the sale of indulgences and pardons.
He held the see of Worcester only one year. He was consecrated
at Rome on the 10th of September, 1497, and died on the 25th of
August, 1498. For the convenience of the reader, I have from
time to time given a sketch of the history of bishops whose history
has been connected with that of a primate. But while in the life

248 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, this occasion, the grateful pope added a ring of more

^-^^ than usual value ; he added also a plenary indulgence

Warham ^° a^' w^° snould be present at the ceremony of its

1503-32. reception. Bonifacio would also bring with him the

bull of the cardinalate. * The minister who had advised

a royal grant to the papal treasury was a man to

be held high in honour. On the 7th of November, a

letter was despatched by Sir Richard Wingfield to

Wolsey, informing him that the hat had arrived at

Calais, attended by Bonifacio.

Of the secret negotiations between the English and
papal governments, with which we have only lately
become acquainted, and of which I have made use, the
contemporary public were not, of course, aware. The
appointment of a cardinal in England, which, at one
time, would have caused a public disturbance, was even
now unpopular ; and it was thought improbable that
the king would do more than give a silent sanction to
the proceedings ; a sanction to be wrung from him by

of a primate, I have written entirely from original authorities, I
have not had the means or the time to test the veracity of the
statements made with reference to prelates who are only noticed in
the notes. I have done so where it has been practicable. Between
the episcopate of Silvester de Gigliis and that of Hugh Latimer,
two foreigners. held the see ; Julius de Medici, in 1521, and Jerome
Ghinucci, who is conspicuous in English history, having been em-
ployed to collect the opinions of the universities in Italy and
Spain in the divorce case of Henry VIII. He was chaplain to
the pope, and auditor-general of the Apostolical churches. Pro-
fessor Stubbs does not give the date of his consecration, which
took place abroad. He was consecrated Bishop of Ascoli. He was
translated to Worcester, and removed, by order of Parliament, in
1535, as an alien and non-resident. Collier, iv. 196. But I be-
lieve he was never resident in England, and that he is rather to be
regarded as holding these sees in commendam, than in pure and
holy matrimony.

* See the Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the
reign of Henry VIII. No. 994.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 240

Wolsey himself. It was rumoured that the hat had CHAP.
been already smuggled into the country ; that it had — ; —

"Willi&m

been conveyed hither in a "varlet's budget,' or as warham.
others said, " a ruffian had brought it to Westminster 1503-32.
concealed under his cloke."*

Wolsey was determined at once to give the lie to
these malicious reports, and to dismiss the calumnies
by ocular demonstration of the fact, that what had
been done was done with more than the concurrence,
with the hearty approbation, of the king. He was not
the man to despise the importance of little things. He
felt the importance of taking possession of his new
office in a style which might equal if it did not surpass
the mao-nificence of Warham's enthronization. The

king was popular ; Wolsey himself was at this time
popular ; and to invite all London, at Wolsey's
expense, to a festival which would give fresh life to
trade, and provide the poor with a feast, was sure
to be a popular act. He also desired to make an
impression upon the authorities of Eome. The un-
willing pope had not conceded the legatine authority.
Wolsey determined that he should see how all par-
ties, from the king and the primate to the populace,
regarded his character.

Wolsey himself delighted in ceremony,* and never
did he spare expense, whether he was attending his

* Singer's Cavendish, i. 29. I think that we must trace the
existence of thg reports, preserved in Cavendish, to the existence
of those absurd reasons by "which even in our time almost every
public transaction is preceded ; but, ii we compare the statements
with the dates of the letters and the other documents we now
possess, we may be confident that they did not influence the conduct
of "\yolsey. Everything had been carefully arranged for the recep-
tion of the hat, and Sir Richard "\Vingfield was directed to notify
its arrival in Calais, that everything might be ready for its reception
in England.

250 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, master to the Field of the Cloth of Gold, or arranging
v-J^ the details of an entertainment in his own house.

Warhar ^^ things were so arranged, that Bonifacio the
1503-32. prothonotary should reach London on the 15th No-
vember. At Blackheath he was met by Henry Bour-
chier, earl of Essex, the Bishop of Lincoln, and a large
assembly of persons. The procession was formed. At
the gates of the city of London, the mayor and alder-
men were ready to bid the hat welcome. A reaction
had taken place in public opinion, or the attempt to
raise a prejudice against Wolsey had failed. Under
the direction of the city magistrates, the streets were
lined by the various crafts. The hat was carried by
the prothonotary, the Earl of Essex riding on the
one side, the Bishop of Lincoln riding on the other.

They quitted the city, and the procession, passing
through the Strand and the village of Charing, came
in sight of the abbey. The Lord Abbot of Westminster,
attended by eight other mitred abbots in splendid
copes, appeared at the west door of the abbey ; they
received the hat from Bonifacio, and conveyed it to the
high altar, where, after its long and fatiguing journey
from Italy, it reposed.

All the arrangements appear, from the corre-
spondence, to have met with the concurrence of the
Archbishop of Canterbury. He did not indeed appear
when the hat was received ; for the honour of receiving
it devolved on the Abbot of Westminster. But on
Tuesday, the 18th, he crossed the river and repaired
to the abbey. The Archbishops of Armagh and
Dublin were already there to receive the Primate of
All England ; with them were many of the suffragans
of Canterbury, together with the mitred abbots of the
chief monasteries in the land. The primate was
preceded by his cross-bearer, the Lord Bishop of

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY.

Rochester. The sound of trumpets summoned them to CHAP.
the west door of the abbey, where the ecclesiastics -~~
received the king, the queen, and the queen of France, Warham.
Marv, the king's sister. The nobles, the barons of isos-32.
the Exchequer, the judges, and the Serjeants of the
law were in attendance. It was soon announced, that
the cardinal with the nobles and gentlemen of his
household had arrived in procession from his palace.
The procession walked up the nave of the abbey, and
when the Lord Cardinal of York had reached the plat-
form, the Archbishop of Canterbury sang the mass, the
Bishop of Rochester bearing his crosier.

The sermon was preached by Dean Colet, of whom
more will be said hereafter. Colet was one of the
most celebrated preachers of the day ; he was also a
personal friend of the archbishop ; and his appoint-
ment on this occasion was significative. Colet was
known to be a strong advocate of reform. In 1512,
he had been appointed by the archbishop to preach
at the opening of the Convocation. We shall have
occasion hereafter to notice the sermon he then deli-
vered ; we shall only say here, that the preacher,
appointed by Warham on that occasion, had denounced
in plain language the wrong-doings of the clergy, and
had especially condemned the scandals and vices of
the ecclesiastical courts, and the newly-invented arts
of ecclesiastical lawyers for getting money. The
very fact, therefore, of his being the preacher on the
present occasion, indicated the intention of the new
cardinal to act with the archbishop as a reformer.*
It confirms all that has just been advanced in regard

* "When we speak of reformers in this chapter, the reader will
remember that we are not, of necessity, speaking of the Protestant
Eeformation. The Theses of Luther were not yet published, and
his name was scarcely known in England.

252 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, to the understanding between the primate and
^~^ Wolsey.

Wwham. Colet was fanciful at the commencement of his
1503-32. discourse, a thing unusual with him : he affirmed that
the cardinals represent the order of seraphim, con-
tinually beaming with love to God the Blessed Trinity;
for which reason they were arrayed in red, the colour
that denoted nobleness. He enlarged on the merits
of Wolsey, and exhorted him to be humble in his
deportment, and just in the administration of his
office. It was an age when great men encouraged
plain speaking. Henry VIII, to resist whose will
was death, was tolerant of contradiction in argu-
ment, and favoured those who, with a certain amount
of tact, told him the truth. The courtiers, as usual,
imitated the conduct of their masters ; though, in
fact, there was nothing in Colet's sermon calculated
to give offence.

There was one truth which no one was brave enough
to announce — perhaps none were learned enough to be
aware of the fact — namely, that when, at the conclu-
sion of the sermon, Dr. Vesey, dean of Exeter and
of the Chapel Eoyal, rose to read the papal bull by
which Wolsey was created a cardinal, he, and all
present, including the king himself, were ipso facto
involved in the penalties of a prsemunire.

The cardinal meanwhile was lying before the high
altar, "grovelling," as the chronicler calls it, before
the archbishop, awaiting his benediction. The red
hat was solemnly removed from its resting-place on
the altar. The cardinal was crowned. When he
rose with the red hat on his head, the choir burst
forth in a Te Deum.

The service ended, the " butcher's son," as plebeians
loved to call him, walked proudly down the nave,

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 253

having achieved the greatness which others had in- CHAP.

herited and knew not how to keep. He was supported ^

on the one side by the Duke of Norfolk, on the other ^ham
by the Duke of Suffolk, proud nobles, who regarded 1503-32.
the distinction with mingled feelings. The lord
cardinal, a prince of the Roman court, preceded the
Archbishop of Canterbury ; one almost revolts from
writing the fact, that Warham, though with a good
object in view, submitted to the temporary degradation.
At the cardinal's palace at Charing Cross, a splen-
did entertainment was given. The hall and the
chamber were " sumptuously garnished by rich arni>."
The multitude looked on ; and when the nobles had
feasted, common people scrambled for the fragments,
and the fragments formed another feast. All hostility
to cardinals was forgotten. Wolsey was right ; the
people love the splendour which they axe permitted
to participate. A stranger, judging from outward
appearances, when witnessing these proceedings,
affirmed, that the whole kingdom evinced joy incre-
dible at Wolsey 's well-deserved promotion.

A great man he was, for greater is he who achieves
greatness, than he who inherits it. Wolsey is treated,
therefore, as ungrateful England is used to treat
her great men. His faults are engraven as with an
iron pen upon a rock, his merits are written in sand ;
scarcely legible except by those who search for a man's
virtues under the conviction, that the faults in a
great man's character are pointed to contemporaries
by the finger of envy, and to posterity by the ma-
lignity innate in little minds.

It is perfectly consistent to believe that, while
Warham and Wolsey acted cordially together in
what related to domestic policy and ecclesiastical
affairs, there was considerable divergence of opinion

254 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, in regard to the foreign policy of the country bc-
— '^ tween the peace-loving minister of Henry VII. and
wSam. t^e energetic adviser of a young king eager to seek
1503-32. " the bubble reputation at the cannon's mouth."

It was certainly no conjecture of later historians ;
it was the opinion of their contemporaries, that the
two great statesmen, Fox, bishop of Winchester, and
Warham, archbishop of Canterbury, were opposed
to Wolsey's policy in giving succour to the emperor
against the French. Sebastian Giustiniani asserts this
as the court gossip in the year 1516, and, as a proof
that it was not without foundation, he mentions the
circumstance, that those statesmen had withdrawn
themselves from the council for many days and months
past.*

On reference to the state papers we find, that War-
ham had withdrawn himself from the political world,
not especially on this occasion, but from the com-
mencement of the reign. He had confined himself
to the legal duties of the chancellor, and, on that
very account, had retained the friendship of Wolsey.
It has been said, that Wolsey, owing much in early
life to Fox, and even to Warham, had driven them
from the helm of government when he had obtained
influence over the young king's mind. In the case
of Fox, as well as in that of Warham, the injustice
of this charge has been proved. As regarded War-
ham, he was not opposed to Wolsey in what related
to the domestic policy of the country, and in eccle-
siastical affairs Warham and Wolsey co-operated.
The divergence of their opinions in regard to foreign
politics may have made Wolsey more ready to accede
to the often-repeated solicitation of Warham to be

• * Giustiniani, i. 129.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY.

relieved from the burden of the great seal ; but we CHAP.
have evidence to show, that no personal feelings of • — J~
rivalry or of hostility were mixed up with the resig- -\va^h^.
nation. Public rumours are not to be overlooked by 1503-32.
an historian, but they are not to be accepted as well
founded unless they are supported by documentary
evidence.

Giustiniani was writing rather loosely, if the cor-
rect date is given to his letter — the 17th of July,
1516, for the resignation of the Great Seal had occurred
some time before, as may be seen from the following
document : —

" 1. Memorandum : that on Saturday, 22 December, 1515, in
a small and lofty chamber, near the chamber of parliament,
William, archbishop of Canterbury, then being Chancellor of
England, delivered into the hands of the king the Great Seal,
inclosed in a bag of white leather live times sealed by the
archbishop's signet, in the presence of "NVolsey, Charles,
duke of Suffolk, and William Throgniorton, prothonotary,
which bag the king had opened and the seal produced,
then replaced in the same bag, sealed with the cardinal's
signet, and delivered to the cardinal.

" 2. Memorandum : that on Christmas eve, Dec. 24, the said
cardinal in his chapel at Eltham, after vespers and in the
presence of the king, took the oath of office in the form
given in English."*

\\ arhani soon found himself in a false position,
and felt the inconvenience of it ; he had retired, as
it were, from all but the external rights and dignities

c o

of the primacy ; and, to effect a reformation of the
clergy and of the ecclesiastical courts, he had per-
mitted a temporary dictatorship to be established. It
was not his fault, so he thought, if Wolsey had not
the time, before his fall, to accomplish what the two

* Letters and Paper?, Henry VIII. 135.

256 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, primates had designed. But if Warham himself was

~~^. ready to retire, and to submit to Wolsey's dictation,

Warham. ^ ^^ no^ follow that such submission would be

1503-32. conceded without a murmur by those ecclesiastical
lawyers whose opinions had not been asked in regard
to a measure which involved many of them in ruin.

The appointment of a legate a latere implied the
appointment of a legatine court. A legatine court,
though at first only a court of appeal, would, if well
managed, absorb the business of all other courts. It
is due to Warham, to say that he had the sagacity
to foresee this, and the wisdom to guard against the
possible abuses of the new court. We learn, from
one of the letters which passed between them, that
Warham and Wolsey had duly considered this sub-
ject. They foresaw the possible collision between the
legatine or foreign court and the national courts of
the Church of England ; and they drew up certain
terms of agreement. The terms of the agreement are
not stated ; but no terms of agreement could prevent
the practitioners of the different courts from being
involved in controversies ; and in the controversies
of their subordinates the principals were sometimes
compromised. I shall not weary the reader by laying
before him the extensive correspondence to which
these disputes gave rise. The impression it leaves
upon my mind is, that the whole subject was treated
by the primate and the cardinal as one of very little
importance. At the same time, the letters bring out
in strong relief the very different characters of the
two men. Complaints were made to Warham, and
the practitioners in his courts were really aggrieved ;
but Warham himself had made a great sacrifice for
what he believed to be an important public benefit,
and others ought to do the same. Nevertheless, the

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 257

leo-atine court was generally in the wrongr; the national CHAP.

courts only asked to be supported in their constitu- _^-L,
tional rights, while the legatine court was claiming ^Vi'iam
to try cases, not on appeal, but in the first instance. 1503-32.
This was, in effect, to supersede the courts below,
to the ruin of the lawyers who practised therein.
Warhana felt the justice of the plea, and urged
Wolsey. though very mildly, to judge each case on
its own merits. The overburdened cardinal was irri-
tated by these proceedings. He would remind War-
ham that they had come to an agreement as to the
jurisdictions of their respective courts, and he might
silence the complainants by referring them to its
terms. He hinted that, in reopening the question,
Warham was guilty of a weakness which, as it con-
sumed valuable time, was regarded by Wul-.-y as
culpable. Warham generally submitted. He would
sacrifice much for a quiet life. He could say to the
complainants that he had pleaded their cause with
the representative of the pope, and, if he had not
succeeded, it was no fault of hi

According to Polydore Vergil, the dispute between
the primate and cardinal, on one occasion, ran so high,
that Warham brought a case before the king. The
king, it is said, sent a curt message to Wolsey, re-
quiring him to redress the grievance complained of.
It is not probable that, without Wolsey Js own consent,
AA arham would have appealed to the king, at a timtj
when Wolsey had so completely the king's ear. It
is possible, on the other hand, that, a misunderstanding

The critic who wishes to contradict the statements given above
has only to reprint the letters which passed between "\Varhain and
Wolsey in the disputes arising in their respective law courts. A case
may be made out on either side. It is by comparing the statements
that we come to the truth.

VOL. VI. s

258 LIVES OF THE

having arisen as to the interpretation of one of the
terms of agreement, both Warham and Wolsey re-
(lueste(l the king to act as arbiter, and that Henry
1503-32. settled the business in his usual offhand way. He
delivered a wise and peremptory judgment, finding
pleasure in deciding against the favourite in a matter
of no importance. It may be expected that I should
notice another statement of Polydore Vergil, and I do
so, not because I attach importance to it, but because a
passing comment may be demanded on a story which
is frequently repeated as a proof of the haughtiness of
Wolsey. He is said to have taken great offence when,
upon a certain occasion not mentioned, the Primate of
All England, in an official letter addressed to Cardinal
Wolsey, had signed himself " Your brother, Willel-
mus Cantuar." The letter of the primate has not been
produced. I do not venture to say that it is unpro-
ducible, as there are two hundred letters of Warham
inedited in the Vatican ; but we may be confident
that, if such a letter makes its appearance, it will bear
a date antecedent to the appointment of Wolsey
as a legate d latere. When Warham conceded pre-
cedence to Wolsey, the etiquette of the age required
him to recede from a form of address which was never
adopted when an inferior was in communication with
one whose superiority he admitted. It was customary,
in the middle age, for the chief in every department
of Church or State to address his subordinates in terms
of condescension or equality. The subordinates were
expected, when addressing their superiors, to use their
higher title. An archbishop signs himself " brother "
when writing to his suffragan, the suffragan replies
to " my lord." The presbyter is called " brother" by his
bishop ; but the bishop again is " my lord " to the pres-
byter. The courts of justice were, in this country,

AKCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 259

for so long a period administered by ecclesiastics, that CHAP.

the same etiquette continues in the legal profession. -!_

The puisne judge is, by the chief of his court, addressed ^^rham.
as " brother ; " but the chief justice or chief baron 1503-32.
receives the lordly title from the other judges occupy-
ing the same bench with himself. The puisne judge
in addressing the bar distinguishes a serjeant-at-law
from the other practitioners by calling him " brother,"
but when the serjeant pleads before the bench the
puisne judge is approached by him as " my lord." In
an age when these trifles were regarded as important, it
-sible that the mode of address had been discussed
between Warham and Wolsey, and the form decided
upon which could be objectionable to neither. The
usual form adopted by Warham in his letters to
Wolsey is, " At your grace's commandment, AY.
Cantuar."

The whole story is probably a fabrication on a
foundation of the slightest possible character. At the
same time, the greatest admirers of the ill-used cardi-
nal must admit that in Wolsey there is traceable much
of the littleness which sometimes attaches to self-
raised men. Suspicious and sensitive, they offend the
dignity of others by their frequent self-assertion ; they
treat as a personal insult every mark of disrespect,
or what they regard as such. Wolsey's self-reliance
resented, as an impeachment of his judgment, any
proffer of advice. His unconcealed contempt for most
of those with whom he was brought into contact acted
as a whetstone to the malignity of his enemies, when
an ungrateful master, whom he had served too well,
left him open to their attacks. This haughty tetchy
disposition appears occasionally in his correspondence
with Warham. He certainly pushed the powers con-
ceded to him far beyond what Warham expected, and

s 2

260 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, one is inclined to feel indignant at his conduct in
— ~ regard to the University of Oxford. This is so closely
Warham. connected with Warham's life that it must be noticed.
1503-32. It is possible that the university reform, which both
prelates desired, could have been in no other way
carried into effect, and this may account for Warham's
quietly submitting to what appears to us very like an
insult. We may think that in this affair Wolsey acted
wisely ; but we may, at the same time, complain of the
manner in which even a good work is performed. If, in
his general conduct, Wolsey became great by discern-
ing his end from the very beginning and keeping his
eye fixed steadily upon it ; he created enemies, not be-
cause men differed from him in opinion, but because in
the furtherance of their common object he was regard-
less of their feelings ; he would make others work, and
then he took all the credit of success to himself.

If there was one office in which Warham took more
delight than in any other, it was that of the Chancel-
lorship of Oxford. He had, with a very brief excep-
tion, remained from early youth attached to his alma
mater. He had done his duty as reader or professor
in the university, if not also as a tutor in his college.
He retained his situation as the head of a house, even
when his avocations in the law courts of the metro-
polis, made London his chief place of abode. Although
he resigned this office on his nomination to the see
of London, yet, as we have seen, he was only for a
short time Bishop of London, and soon after his
translation to Canterbury, the university evinced its
respect by electing him its chancellor.*

* An attempt was evidently made at this time to introduce at
Oxford a system which still prevails in some of the Continental
universities, where distinct colleges are open to the different
faculties. There is a Law College, a Divinity College, a Medic.il

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 261

He is thus connected with the university reforms CHAP.

• ii

which took place after he had ceased to reside. They _^_

were conducted by the personal friends of the chancel- ^Til|iam

. . 1 arnam.

lor : with his entire sanction, if not with any very 1503-3.2.
actiye co-operation. Activity indeed in any of the
pursuits of life was not to be numbered among the
virtues of Warham ; but, if he was slow to resist evil,
he encouraged what was right, and was a learned man.

The reformation of the universities in England,
through the influence of the Renaissance in Italy, pre-
ceded the reformation of the Church, though the fact
is overlooked too generally by the historians of the
period.

Even before the chancellorship of Warham the
attempt was made to supersede the scholastic and to
establish the classical system of education; to supplant
education by philosophy, and to introduce education
by language.

In the last century and at the commencement of
this, all that related to scholasticism and the works of
the schoolmen was subjected to the cheap and paltry
criticism of a sneer. Men thought to show their wit
when, to a more inquiring age, they simply betrayed
their ignorance. Whatever may be the faults of the
present time — and they are many. — we do not men-
tion as one, a neglect to do justice to former ages, or
to the giants of other days.

College. That this system failed may be a subject of congratulation.
The object of a university ought to be to educate a Christian gentle-
man ; to provide a good education — a liberal education — before
removing the mind to the professional point. The great Civil Lavr
School was situated in St. Edward's parish, near St. Edward's Hall.
It belonged to St. Frideswide's Priory, and yielded to them, by the
name of the Civil Law Schools, three and forty shillings and four-
pence, as appears by an inquisition concerning the revenues, taken
in 1.524:. — Wood, Annals, ii. 768.

262

LIVES OF THE

William
Wai-ham.

1503-32.

"When Europe was in deep intellectual slumber,
scholasticism was admirably adapted to awaken
its dormant energies.*

It ought not to be forgotten that, during the two
centuries of the predominance of scholasticism, the pro-
gress of society, if slow and gradual, was persistent and
decided. Results were produced of which the benefits
remain to the present hour. It was during that period
that the great nationalities were formed, that repre-
sentative government was made to pass from the
Church to the State, that a vernacular literature was
created, and a middle class called into existence. It
was the schoolmen who by the creation of universi-
ties summoned the noble from his castle, where might

* In the inaugural lecture of Dr. Shirley, we have presented
to us an historical and philosophical view of scholasticism, which,
though a sketch, is a sketch so masterly, as to make us sure that
his early death was a public loss.

"Ostendent terris hunc tantum fata, nee ultra
Esse sinent."

To him and to Neander's History of Christian Dogmas the modern
student of history is under deep obligation. As early as the time
of Sender, says Hagenbach, complaints were made of the unjust
treatment which the scholastic divines had to suffer. Semler
himself observes, " The poor scholastici have been too much
despised, and that frequently by people who would not have
been good enough to be their transcribers." Luther himself wrote
to Staupnitz : " Ego scholasticos nonjudico, non clausos oculos ligo —
non rejicio omnia eorum, sed nee omnia probo." See De Witte, i. 229,
Hagenbach, i. 401. In Calvin, the schoolmen still lay down the law
to men who in their ignorance revile them. The attack upon such a
man as Aquinas by Dean Colet is not creditable to Colet. He
betrayed the weakness of ordinary minds, where they are unable to
do justice to one party without deteriorating from the merits of
another. This is what is meant when men are spoken of as party
men. A man may belong to a party, and defend it, but he has no
right, when acting as an historian, to conceal the merits of the
opposite side.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 263

was triumphing over right, and the student from the CHAP.
monasteries, where theology had exclusive dominion, — -^
The universities were the cradle and nurse of scho- warh'SJ.
lasticism. To the universities flocked the great middle 1503-32.
class, in incredible numbers ; and there prince and
noble were made to experience, if they did not under-
stand, that knowledge is power.

It does not follow that, because at the commence-
ment of the sixteenth century, scholasticism had done
its work, it never had a work to do. Scholasticism
had from the end of the fourteenth century, or the begin-
ing of the fifteenth, ceased to be a living system of philo-
sophy, prepared to anticipate, to meet, and to control the
spiritual requirements of the age ; and the students at
the university diminished in number when it was found
that the instruction offered was adapted rather for the
amusement of pedants than for the business of life.

As applied directly to education, the system of the
schoolmen was not designed so much to supply food
for thought, as to create the power of digesting it
when it had been elsewhere supplied. The object was
not to sow the seed, but to plough the intellectual
soil. The attempt was to fabricate the steam-engine,
and, when this was done, men were too often prepared
to gaze at the fabric with wonder, instead of lighting
the fire to set it in motion. Men continued to be
busy in doctoring the soul, when the inner man was
pining for food ; they were occupied in improving the
plough when it was necessary for the sower to go forth
and to sow the seed ; when men were preparing to rush
they knew not where for the discovery of new worlds,
the heads of universities were still questioning the
power of their locomotives. The schools, we are told by
one who would not have admitted the charge if a love
of truth had not impelled him to proclaim it, " were

264 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, full of quirks and sophistry : all things, whether
_J^_ taught or written, seemed trite and inane. No pleasant
William streams of humanity or mythology were gliding from
1503-32. among us. Scholars were inconstant and wavering,
and could not apply themselves to an ordinary search
of anything. They rather made choice of than em-
braced those things which their reason was capable
of."* In short, the leading principles of scholasticism
had been petrified into a mere formula. Words were
used to which no definite meaning was attached. The
schools were occupied in questioning and answering ;
in laying down theses and counter-theses ; in arguments
and counter-arguments ; in splitting the matter of
doctrines according to a stereotyped system. To thia
the young mind was not willing to submit when
fresh sources of information had opened to the Euro-
pean intellect, through the circulation of Greek litera-
ture and through the application of the art of printing
to the fabrication of books of a more enlarged and
general literature.

It was known in England that Italy was awakened
to the new learning, — that there was an enthusiasm
for Greek, and for all that pertained to classical
literature.

The movement in favour of reform commences
with an energetic minority; and they who are eloquent
upon the ignorance displayed in the English universities,
because instances may be adduced of pedantic folly,
ought to bear in mind that, when it was found, that
the Greek and Latin as pronounced at Oxford and
Cambridge was regarded as barbarous by the rising
scholars of Italy, an importation of learned Italians
was effected, for the better instruction of Oxford.
So early as the year 1488, or earlier, Cornelius

* Wood, i. 665.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 265

Yitellius was appointed Greek Professor ; and we are CHAP.
proud of the fact, that it was at Oxford that Erasmus __^
learned Greek; that an Englishman, an Oxonian, jfjjjjjj,
Grocyn, was his instructor ; and that to the talent 1503-32.
and real substantial learning which he found in the
English universities he bore grateful testimony
throughout his life, and on all suitable occasions.

It was soon after "Warharn's promotion to the coun-
cils of Henry VII, when his influence at the court
was great, that several of the most distinguished
scholars of the day set out on their travels, and pro-
ceeded to Italy to make themselves masters cf "the
new learning."

They went with the full sanction of the English
Government ; and, as "Warham was of that Govern-
ment a distinguished member, we may presume that
to him they were indebted for their introduction not
only to the schools and universities of Italy, but also
to the courts of Italian princes.

Of these persons all continued to live on terms
of friendship with Warham throughout his life ; he
evinced towards them the generosity of a patron
without the air of patronage, and they contributed to
his enjoyment of a retired life, when he ceased to act
as a statesman, a judge or a courtier.

These persons raised the character of England in-
tellectually, as its character was elevated politically
by AVolsey. AVe have the authority of Erasmus him-
self for saying that next to those of Italy, and scarcely
inferior to them, the schools of England were to be
ranked ; and that a visit to England was to a man of
learning a sufficient compensation, if circumstances pre-
vented his making a pilgrimage to Italy. Although
\Volsey was too great a man not to be a patron of lite-
rature, his time was so completely occupied by political

266 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, business that he was the Mecaenas rather than the com-
— ^ panion of learned men. Henry VIII. was a man of

A\T '11*

Warham. varied accomplishments, interested in literary pursuits,
1503-32. and himself a literary man ; he was affable and acces-
sible ; yet, between love of business and love of pleasure,
he had no time to spare, and the court of a great
king differed from the courts of the princes of Italy.
Men of learning were the occasional visitors rather
than the habitues of his palace. It was in the manor
houses of Archbishop Warham, that learned men
found a scholar, imparting and receiving information,
using his high station to confer benefits, and forgetting
them before gratitude could express its thanks.

Among the foremost of the great men who intro-
duced " the new learning " from Italy, and enjoyed
the friendship of the archbishop, Thomas Linacre
deserves to be mentioned. Having studied at both
of the English universities, he established in each a
professorship of Greek. He is present, in his good
works, with our own generation, for he was the foun-
der and first president of the College of Physicians.
As a physician, a philologist, and a divine, Linacre w~as
celebrated ; he is described by Erasmus as " vir non
exacti tantum, sed severi judicii." He studied in Italy,
and contracted a friendship with the leading scholars
of the age. To Warham he was indebted for the
Church preferment which rescued him from the mere
drudgery of the medical profession, and enabled him
to direct his attention to the higher branches of
physical science.*

William Grocyn was a Wykehamist, a schoolfellow of
Warham. When, in 1497, Erasmus studied at Oxford,
Grocyn had the honour of being his instructor. Grocyn

* Wood, Biog. Brit. ; Fuller, Freiii, History of Physic
Jortin's Erasmus, Erasmi Epist.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 267

received as a welcome guest in houses of the CHAP.

highest distinction in Italy, and was intimate with the L_

Medicean family. He had a stall in Lincoln cathedral, -^{JJJJ
but depended chiefly upon the income derived from 1503-32.
the mastership of All Hallows College, Maidstone, a
piece of preferment conferred upon him by our arch-
bishop/''

Warham extended his friendship to William Latiiner,
who, having been at one time the tutor of .Reginald
Pole, assisted Erasmus, in after life, in preparing the
second edition of his Xc-w Testament for the press. Of
William Larimer, it was said by Erasmus that he was
'*" vere theologus, integritate vitre conspicuus." t

Of Sir Thomas More it is unnecessary to speak. I
write not for those who cannot appreciate and admire
his calm wisdom, his ever-ready wit, his almost pro-
phetic sagacity in union with a guileless simplicity < >f
character, his inflexible integrity, his sense of justice,
his tenacity of purpose. His royal murderer admitted
him into a friendship, the hollowness of which was
en by More : and was evinced when More pre-
ferred obedience to the dictates of conscience to a com-
pliance with the mandate of a capricious despot.

Whether William Lilly laboured much at the uni-
versity after his return from foreign travel, is not
clear, but ir is certain that, having acquired a mast* TV
of the Greek language, he taught it in London ; and
to our own generation he has spoken, though now
no longer, in the " Propria quse maribus " and the " As
in prsesenti." Lilly's Greek Grammar was in use at
~V\ inchester School at the commencement of this cen-
tury. All is now swept away, but St. Paul's School

* Leland, Wood, Bale, Tanner, Jortin's Erasmus, Knight's
Erasmus, Knight's Colet.

+ Wood, Jortin, Knight, Erasmi Ep.

CHAP, k^ a right to boast of its first master, as it lias of its
— ^ founder John Colet ; to whom we shall have occasion

William . -, -, « »

Warham. more particularly to reier.

1503-32. Lilly studied at Rhodes, and the less learned Colet
in Italy, but there is no proof that either of them
had visited Florence. Linacre, Grocyn, and William
Latimer had, on the contrary, shared the patronage of
Lorenzo de Medici, when he had rendered Florence at-
tractive to the student in art, in science, and in letters.
They had studied also at Padua and at Rome. Doubt-
less they had been associated, when at Florence, with the
friends and disciples of Savonarola. They had become
influenced, if not directly, yet through the instrumen-
tality of others, by the doctrines propounded by that
pure-minded man. They returned to England, re-
formers— not after the model of Protestantism, which
did not yet exist, — but still resolved to effect a re-
formation in the conduct of the clergy, in the manage-
ment of the monasteries, and in the teaching of the
universities. Their inclination was to depreciate
scholasticism and mysticism, which they found chiefly
in the convents, and they acted under the full convic-
tion that all reformation must commence with the
study of the Bible in its original languages.

Such were the contemporaries of Warham, and such
their principles ; they were Erasmians, although to
Erasmus some had acted as teachers.

Erasmus does not appear to have made any great
impression or to have won many friendships during his
first visit to England. So far from being at that time
an accomplished Greek scholar, to Oxford and to
Grocyn he was, as we have said, indebted for his first
acquaintance with that language.

* Pits, Bale, Tanner, Wood, Fuller, Knight's Colet.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 269

To Erasmus, to his intimacy with "Warham, and to CHAP.

the influence which that intimacy had on the mind of _

the archbishop we shall have occasion hereafter to -^j^
revert. "We have only to repeat that these university 1503-32.
reforms took place antecedently to the reformation of
the Church. The opinions of those by whom the uni-
versity reform was conducted were opposed to Luther-
anism, when, about the year 1518, the name of Martin
Luther was held up to execration to his subjects of
England by the royal polemic, King Henry VIII.

That these and similar proceedings, amounting to a
revolution in the university system of education,
should meet with opposition, is only what we should
have expected. The advocates of change and reform
a re often as narrow-minded as their opponents, and
the most illiberal in their temper are often men who
a iv loudest in the advocacy of liberal principles.

It is happily ordered for the steady advancement of
society, that two classes of mind should be in continual
action and counteraction ; the one class taking for
their watchword " Festina," the other adding "/e/

Between the two classes of mind the wise man is to
legislate ; he sounds the alarum bell to awaken the
supine, and he places the drag-chain on the chariot-
wheels if a Jehu shall be acting as the charioteer. In
the historian, the vice to be avoided is intolerance on
either side, a vice from which few historians can extri-
cate themselves, especially when politics or relioion
are concerned. One cannot but feel sometimes, that the
historian who denounces persecution with vehement
eloquence would himself have considered the stake as
more convincing than the press, if he had lived when
fire and fagot were the order of the day.

Party feeling ran high at both the universities
when "Warham was Chancellor of Oxford, and Fisher

270 LIVES OF THE

CHAP. Chancellor of Cambridge. Both at Cambridge and at

ii
_^_ Oxford a party of Trojans were formed who feared the

w^h&m. Greeks " et dona ferentes," and ridiculed the purists who
1503-32. made the style of Cicero the model of Latin composi-
tion. The party originated in the wit of the young ;
it was afterwards increased by some who ought to have

» o

been wiser ; and those who remember how, half a cen-
tury ago, they could hardly restrain their laughter
when the head of a house, -from the university pulpit,
declared against the system of examinations, then newly
introduced, warning his audience that it would end in
the world giving them " the bye-go, " will not be sur-
prised to hear that, even from, the university pulpit,
the study of Greek was denounced, when that study
was forced upon every student. But, even when they
are blinded by party rage, men are not altogether fools ;
and we must remember that, although they had little
to say in vindication of their conduct, still something
was adduced which commended itself to the mind of
dullards. What they objected to was not the study
of Greek on the part of the learned few, but the forcing
its study on all members of the university. It was
said to be useless to encourage the study, since in the
Vulgate the student of theology had a version of
Scripture of which the authority was equal to that of
the original. As to Ciceronian Latin, it was repre-
sented as absurd, when Latin was used to express
modern ideas, to bind oneself down to a model which
was not with those ideas even remotely connected.
In this opinion Erasmus himself to a certain extent
coincided. The war waxed strong ; there were on the
one side a Hector and a Paris, supported occasionally
by a Priam, but they fought against the novelties in
vain. By those who regard as fools and persecutors
all who are in authority, reference is sometimes made to

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. '2 7 I

this party, as a proof of the blindness of the univer- CHAP.
si ties to the requirements of the times. But when we — L-
remember, that the Greeks were soon able, in recording -JalJh"™.
their literary exploits, to say " Troja fuit," we may be 1503-32.
excused if we arrive at an opposite conclusion. It is
granted that there was opposition ; but when we men-
tion the names of Grocyn, Linacre, Tunstal, More,
Colet, and the two chancellors Warhani and Fisher,
and when we add to this the testimony of Erasmus,
who places the English universities in the van of the
educational institutions in Europe, we regard the oppo-
sition as insignificant though it was troublesome ; and
we may see, in the antecedent reform of the universities,
the foundation laid of those principles which led, in
due course, to the reformation of the Church.

Such controversies as these must be of continual
occurrence so long as human nature, in its virtues
and in its faults, remains such as it is. There were
difficulties, however, in the way of Warham which
wnv peculiar to the age in which he lived. The con-
troversies between Greek and Trojan were put down,
with the usual weapons of controversy, by those
great men whose names have just been given. Ante-
cedently to this controversy, there had been a dispute
between Northerners and the Southerners, such as we
lutve seen prevailing in former years, though never
before with so much temerity and fierceness. In the
High Street, in the front of St. Mary's Church, a
battle had been fought, in which three scholars had
been wounded, and some had lost their lives. Among
the wounded or slain were some of high standing in

o o

the university, under which head we may perhaps
class some of the young scions of the aristocracy.
It is only thus we can account for the extreme vio-
lence with which the nobility, as a class, are said

272 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, to have urged the king, Henry VII, to cancel the
— ^ university charter. The feeling against the university

"\\T * 1 1 * *^

Warham. was so strong, that nothing but Warham's influence
1503-32. with the king could have saved it. While acting as a
buttress without, Archbishop Warhain was also a pillar
giving support to the university by his benefactions.
His contributions were munificent towards the com-
pletion of St. Mary's Church and the erection of the
divinity school.

The charter of the university was again in jeopardy
at the commencement of the new reign ; but War-
ham obtained from Henry VIII. a renewal of the
charter of King Edward IV, and he also secured for
Oxford the honour of a royal visit in 1510. Upon
several of the nobles, as if to conciliate them, degrees

' O

were at this time conferred.

The attention of the chancellor was directed to the
Very unsatisfactoiy state of the university statutes.
All things were in a state of transition. Some of
the statutes had become obsolete, others required to
be adapted to the altered state of society. As in the
courts of law, so in the university, there were in-
formers, who were constantly exacting money, under the
threat of prosecution for the non-obedience of statutes
which had long fallen into desuetude. Young men
found themselves sometimes accused of perjury. They
went, in their alarm, to the commissioners. By the
commissioners licence was given to the students to
select advocates from the regents, and to the regent
masters licence was given to absolve the students
from the penalties attached to the disregard of the
statutes. This was a state of things so unsatisfactory,
that Warham appointed another commission to reduce
the statutes and ordinances into some intelligible
method. The commissioners found the difficulties so

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 273

many, or their caution was so great, that their pro- CHAP.

s did not keep up with the impatience of the imi- . ^L

versity reformers. There were, at the same time, fre- ^SJJ}.
quont misunderstandings between the university and 1503-32.
the civic authorities to be settled : and new regulations
had to be made with reference to the election of proc-
tors. In short, Warham encountered the difficulties
to which every one is exposed who, in attempting to
reform, desires to act according to precedent, and to
pay a due regard to all vested interests. There was
much talk of university reform, and little prog;

made in it. In 1518, the subject was brought
before Wolsey. The king and Queen -Katlierinc
being in progress, arrived with a splendid retinue at
Abingdou, and took up their abode in the abbey.
The queen unexpectedly signified her intention of
visiting Oxford, and a loyal reception she met with
from the masters and the students. The visit had not
been previously planned, and, when the royal pleasure
was signified to the authorities, the chancellor was
unable to reach Oxford soon enough to take his place
at the head of his university. He was at Otford,
whither a despatch was forwarded to him containing
an account of the proceedings. The scholars had
welcomed the queen with every demonstration of
love and joy. After visiting the several places of
interest, she paid her devotions at St. Frideswide's
Priory, to the sacred relics of that virgin saint ;
and that done, says Anthony a Wood, " she vouchsafed
to condescend so low as to dine with the Mertonians,
for the sake of the late warden (Rawlins), at this
time almoner to the king, notwithstanding she was
expected by other colleges."* On her departure, Car-
dinal Wolsey honoured the Convocation House with

* Wood, II. i. U.
VOL. VI. T

274 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, his presence. He was surrounded by the nobles and
_^1_, others who held office in his household ; and " he

Warkam sPa^e an oration/' in which he declared his readiness
1503-32. at all times to serve the university to the best of his
ability. His words were not idle words. He was
always grand in his conceptions, and thoroughly prac-
tical. He signified his immediate intention of founding
new professorships to meet the requirements of the
age ; and, alluding to the difficulties which had arisen
from the unsatisfactory state of the statutes, he offered
his services to correct and reform them, to remove
the discrepancies which had lately given rise to many
complaints, and to render them conformable to the
altered circumstances of the times.

The proposal was accepted with enthusiasm by those
who had become impatient through the dilatoriness of
Warham. The grievances were great and practical ;
any day any person might be subjected to annoyance
from an obnoxious neighbour threatening prosecution
for a breach of the statutes ; scrupulous consciences
were only half satisfied by confession, and an alter-
nation of repenting and sinning and sinning and
repenting. The system of prosecuting for the non-
observance of obsolete statutes, which had excited the
public feeling against the Ecclesiastical Courts, was
adopted by reformers in the university. The dila-
toriness, it was urged, of Warham argued either inca-
pacity, or inattention to the business ; and here was
the first man of the age offering to bring down his
mind from high affairs of state to this comparatively
small matter. Wolsey was at the height of his popu-
larity. His talents, great as they were, were magnified
in men's minds. They whispered of his low origin,
they saw him an ava% dv&pwv. He was avaricious of
work. Up to this time, in whatever he had attempted

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 27.3

he had succeeded. He was a man of progress. Al- CHAP.
though not a man of technical learning himself, yet he

O ^— ' *

was the patron of learned men. The character of the -J^^
lectures he proposed to institute indicated the direc- 1503-32.
tion his reform would take — he proposed to endow
professorships in medicine, philosophy, mathematics.
Greek, rhetoric, and humanity : and. at the same time,
he established new chairs in theology and civil law.
His ideas with respect to his new college, if vague,
were sufficient to convince the heads of the university.
that they had to deal with one of the master spirits
of the age.

Anthony a Wood believed that the intention of
Wolsey was to do all that in him lay to further the
interests of the university, and in this opinion the
impartial reader will concur. His natural disposition,
self-reliant and haughty, loved power ; but his object
in obtaining power was to be a benefactor, not of
himself only, but of his Church and country. His
was an enlarged selfishness, which made his Church
and country only part of himself. One grand mark
of superiority he possessed : he left a sense of his
power impressed on the minds of all who approached
him. Offensive by his self-assertion to those who were
proud like himself, he inspired confidence in all
who, conscious of their own weakness, desired to find
the arm on which they reclined equal to the weight
put upon it.

To the members of the university it appeared, that
they had, at length, secured the services of the very
man, who could, if he were willing, effect through
his influence with the king and pope, the object they
had in view.

It appears extraordinary, that the university should
have taken for granted, that Warham should at once

T 2

276 LIVES OF THE

AP. have acceded to these proposals ; and we have, in
^L, his conduct on this occasion, an instance of that disre-
Sarc^ to tne feeling8 an(l privileges of others which
involved Wolsey in much unpopularity. He thought
not of the chancellor of the university, but assumed
at once, that he who had not objected to the exercise
of legatine authority, would acquiesce, without remon-
strance, in a measure of reform which the chancellor
had failed to effect, but which the legate, armed with
the exceptional powers of a dictator, would be able to
accomplish. Warham perceived the state of the case.
He had undoubtedly given his consent to the appoint-
ment of a legate a latere, but he was not prepared to
acquiesce in Wolsey's assumption, that the powers with
which he was invested extended to the university.
But if the all-powerful favourite chose to interfere,
opposition would be useless. He protested, but did
not offer opposition ; he contented himself with warn-
ing the university, that the measure proposed was
exceptional and revolutionary.

In a well-written Latin letter, he reminded the
university that to make and to reform the statutes
was a duty which devolved upon and was attached to
" the venerable society of regent and non-regent
masters " acting as a council to the chancellor. He
observes that " all the statutes of the university do in
general, and severally, tend to the advancement of
learning and scholastic discipline ; if the whole
authority respecting such statutes should devolve upon
any person besides those who are at this time vested
with it, the university, considered as a society, would
be dissolved. A mere empty name, a shadow of power
would only remain to it, and the authority which it
formerly exercised wholly terminate in the person 'to
whom you desire it to be transferred. But if the

AECHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 277

cardinal should be pleased to declare his sentiments -CHAP.

concerning a regulation of the statutes, or in what —

respects he would have them altered, restored, or wariuai.
methodized, and should lay his scheme to that end i-r
before the university for their confirmation, if it should
appear so salutary and well concerted as might justly
be expected from him, there would then be no ques-
tion but all persons would readily come into it,"

The letter had no effect. AVolsey, who revolted from
the control of parliament, was not likely to permit
himself to act as the mere servant of the Convoca-
tion of Oxford. Besides, there was an inconsistency in
TTarham's argument. It was proposed for the occasion
to supersede the authority of the chancellor, simply
on the ground that the evil was so great, that excep-
tional legislation had become necessary. The consti-
tutional authority to which "\Varham referred, had
been found insufficient to supply a remedy. An enthu-
siasm was excited in favour of AVolsey. The uni-
versity expressed its pride at the high position in
Church and State which had been achieved, through
his transcendent abilities, by one of the alumni of
Oxford. A decree was proposed, and unanimously
d on the 1st of June, investing the cardinal with
full power, on his own authority, to revise the statutes,
and make such regulations for the better government of
the university as might be suggested to his wisdom.*

* The resemblance between Oxford and Otford has misled Fiddes,
•who supposes that ^Yarham was at Oxford during these transactions.
The letters may be found in Fiddes* Collections, Xos. 16, 17, 18,
•.21. On this and one or two other occasions, "VYolsey and
AYarham are addressed as " Your majesty." The words to War-
ham are "et dum felicissime vivat Majestas tua." It was not
appropriated exclusively to crowned heads till a later period. Modern
biographers of AYolsey are sometimes guilty of an anachronism, bv
calling him " his eminence." The title erninentissimi was conceded to
the cardinals by Pope Urban VI 1 1. in the year 1631.

278 LIVES OF THE

CHAP. Although the name of the chancellor is not attached

— ^ to the decree, yet the conduct of the cardinal, or rather

Warham. °^ *ne university, made no alteration in the friendly

1503-32. relations between Warham and Wolsey. Warham,

a theorist, contended, lukewarmly, for a principle ;

Wolsey, as a practical man, sought only for power.

Of the letters already presented to the reader, several

were written, in the most friendly terms, subsequently

to the events just narrated.

We find the two prelates acting in concurrence under
circumstances far more offensive to our feelings.
About the year 1521, the works of Luther had
obtained circulation in the university of Oxford. It
had not been long before, that the name of this cele-
brated man had been first heard beyond the schools
of Wittenberg. It was on 31st of October, 1517, that
Europe was electrified by the publication of his Theses.
The events of his history then proceeded in rapid
succession. His interview with Cajetan took place at
Augsburg, in the following year, and in 1519, his
interview with Miltitz, his controversy with Eck, and
his dispute at Leipsic. In 1520 he had been excom-
municated by the pope, and in the December of that
year he burnt the bull and the papal decrees. Every
one was now interested in watching his conduct, and
surmising what that conduct would be at the Diet of
Worms.

That he should have sympathisers in England as
elsewhere was only to be expected; but they were
comparatively few in number. It did not follow
that, because Warham was an advocate of reform, he
must also be a follower of Luther. The king was still
popular; and the king was an enemy of Luther.
What would happen if it should come to the king's
ears that there were many in either university who

ARCHBISHOPS OF CAXTEEBUilY. - , (J

received with approbation the writings of the king's CHAP.
opponent, it was difficult to say. It is pardonable — L_-

if those who were at the head of affairs took alarm, ^y^jjj^

AVarham, always timid, was much excited when he 1503-32.
received a letter making inquiry upon the subject
from the cardinal. Warham's reply we possess. The
alarm was great.

" It is," he said, " a sorrowful thing to see how greedily
inconstant men, and specially inexpert youth, falleth to new
doctrines, be they never so pestilent, and how prone they be
to attempt that thing that they be forbidden of their superiors
for their own wealth. I would I had suffered great pain on
condition this had not fortuned there, where I was brought up
in learning and now am chancellor, albeit unworthy. And I
doubt not but it is to your good grace right powerful hearing,
seeing your grace is the most honourable member that .
was of that university.

" And where the said university hath instantly desired me
by their letters to be a mean and suitor unto your grace for
them, that it might please the same to decree such order to be
taken, touching the examination of the said persons suspected
of heresy, that the said university run in as little infamy
thereby through your grace's favour and justice as may be
after the quality of the offence.

" If this matter concerned not the cause of God and His
Church, I would entirely beseech your Grace to tender the
infamy of the university as it might please your incomparable
wisdom and goodness to think best. For pity it were that,
through the lewdness of one or two cankered members, which
as I understand have induced no small number of young
and uneircuinspect fools to give ear unto them, the whole
university should run in the infamy of so heinous a crime,
the hearing whereof should be right delectable and pleasant
to the open Lutherans beyond the sea, and secrete behyther,
whereof they woidd take heart and confidence that their
pestilent doctrines should increase and multiply, seeing both
the universities of England infected therewith, whereof the
one hath many years been void of heresies, and the other

"\Villiam

AVavham .

1503-32.

280 LIVES OF THE

hath before now taken upon her the praise that she was
II. ' never defiled ; and nevertheless now she is thought to be the
original occasion and case of the fall in Oxford." *

' We can easily understand how the intolerant urged
the king to make inquiries, and how both Wolsey and
Warham feared lest an outbreak in favour of Lutheran-
ism would be visited upon tliem.f

Both Warham and Wolsey admitted that a reform-
ation was necessary : they were both of them prepared
to conduct a reform, they were in consequence the
more annoyed when, by their excesses, wrong-headed
persons offered a real impediment to the reform which
they would fain effect. But we may affirm both of
Warham and of Wolsey, that they were neither of
them persons of a cruel disposition. Many a lordly
persecutor assumes to be, and has a character for being
a philanthropist.

In the early part of his career we find Warham
sitting in judgment upon heretics, and at the close of
his career, under the command of Henry, he was obliged
to do the same. In 1511, six men, most of them

* Ellis, Third Series, i. 239.

t Fuller speaks of Warham as a persecutor, ''especially towards
his latter end." He says " he was a still and silent persecutor of
poor Christians." He gives no authority for the statement, and
Fuller is no authority himself. We know that by poor Christians
were meant those whose principles were the same as Fuller's ; hut
it is difficult to know what is meant by stillness and silence. How
were the stillness and silence penetrated by the worthy his-
torian 1 It is more remarkable that Foxe, who has a keen eye for a
persecutor, while holding up to reprobation Fitzjames, bishop of
London, and Nix, bishop of Norwich, does not, so far as I can find,
conjoin with, theirs the name of Warham. The age was cruel, men
were doomed to death for the most trifling offences ; and I doubt
not that Warham would have pronounced sentence upon a heretic,
if it had pertained to his office to do so. But I do not think that
lie was a man more cruel than some zealots of a later period, who
might be named.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 281

natives of Tenterclen, were summoned before the CHAP.
archbishop's court, then sitting at Knowle. They had ^2^
declared that, in the sacrament of the altar, the con- ^y^111

7 \\ arham.

secrated elements were not the body and blood of 1.303-3-2.
Christ, but material bread and wine. They rejected
the sacrament of baptism, and held confirmation and
confession to be unnecessary. Marriage also thev con-

. •/

sidered as unprofitable to the soul ; they denied
extreme unction, pilgrimages, and saint-worship.

With the exception of their opinion with respect to
matrimony and baptism, what they aborted would now
be generally received ; but. regarded from Warham's
standing point, they would appear to him as revolu-
tionary. Heresy was prevalent at Tenterden, for the
court resumed in the afternoon to receive the abjura-
tion of two other men from the same place. The court
sat again on the 5th of May. when the archbishop
pronounced judgment. A penance was enjoined. The
abjurors were to wear the badge of a fagot in flames
on their clothes during their lives, or until they
received a dispensation. They were required, in the
cathedral church of Canterbury, and each in his own
parish church, to go in procession carrying a fagot on
his shoulders, a sign that, though pardoned, they had
incurred the highest penalty of the law.

The court sat at Lambeth on the 15th of May. Many
abjurations were received ; a few persons were handed
over to the secular power as relapsed heretics; but,
though they were condemned, there is no record of their
execution, and we may feel so sure that if execution had
taken place the fact would have been discovered and
proclaimed with exultation by Foxe, that we may cha-
ritably conclude that they were permitted to escape.
The policy of "Warham and Wolsey was to keep things
quiet by enforcing the rigour of the law ; but we

282 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, must remember that the vindictive feelings had not

1_ as yet been excited on either side. Warham and

Warham Wolsey were human beings like ourselves; they no
1503-32. more delighted in deeds of blood than any modern
philanthropists ; what philanthropists can do when
their passions have been excited enthusiastically in
favour of a cause, we may read in the history of the
French Revolution. The idea of murdering men for
their opinions is horrible enough ; but many horrible
acts have been done by well-designing men. We
must, at the same time, remember that there was a
large body of men, vehement, as men in every age
have been vehement, for the suppression of those who
deviated from the constituted order of things. By
these persons the primate and the bishops generally
were severely censured as being lukewarm in their
prevention of heresy. Royalty itself was enlisted on
the side of intolerance. The king had written against
Luther, and were the bishops to be less zealous against
the pestilent heresy of Germany than their royal
master ?* The feelings of the common people were
excited on the same side. There was a violent feeling

against the foreign merchants and mechanics who
were settled in London. The foreigners were watched
with a jealous eye. The Germans were suspected of
heresy. We are surprised to read of four merchants

* Of King Henry's book against Luther I have not occasion to
speak. Henry must have foreseen that Luther would attribute
any merit which the book possessed to those who assisted the
king in its composition. He would represent the king as
merely nominally its author. The king, anticipating this, was
careful not to consult divines. He did consult Sir Thomas More, a
layman ; but, from a letter from Pace to Wolsey, it would appear
that the king did not consult even Wolsey. There is no more
ground for doubting the authenticity of Henry's book than there is
for doubting the authenticity of the Life of Julius Cajsar by Louis
!Napoleon.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY.

of the Steelyard doing penance at St. Paul's Cross, CHAT.
for having, without a dispensation, eaten meat on a _j^
Fridav. The party feeling must have been violent 3^^

• r J -\\ arham.

which pushed matters to such an extreme, in an i:
age of much practical laxity, when Cardinal "Wolsey
himself was accustomed — under a dispensation to meet
the cravings of his appetite for the support of his
overtaxed frame, — to regale on flesh on days of absti-
nence. The penance was performed under circumsta:
of more than ordinary solemnity. It occurred in 1521.
The well-fed cardinal attended, under an escort of
eleven bishops. At the west door of St. Paul's he
was censed, and " under a canopy of gold," held by
four doctors. He went in procession up the nave to the
high altar, where he made his oblation. The pro-
Yin then returned to St. Paul's Cross. There on
an elevated platform a throne was erected to receive
him, " under a cloth of estate.'' On his right hand,
but upon seats on a level with his feet, sat the pope's
ambassador and the humiliated Primate of All England :
on his left the imperial ambassador and the Lord
Bishop of Durham : the other bishops sat on two
forms, " outer right forth.''* The sermon was preached
by Bishop Fisher, and was pointed against Lutheran-
ism. The same subject was treated by the Bishop
of Kochester in the sermon he preached at the
penance of Dr. Barnes. Dr. Barnes had been tried for
heresy, and, sentence being given against him, he was
compelled to bear a fagot.

* Letters and Papers of Henry YIII. 481. "Wolsey was, during
the year 1521, particularly active in his endeavours to suppress
Lutheranism. There is a letter of his to Booth, hishop of Hereford,
in which the hishop is required to cause search to he made for all
books and pamphlets composed or edited by Martin Luther, and
within fourteen days to give account of them to the cardinal —
Ibid. 487.

284 LIVES OF THE

That "Warliam was not a persecutor, and that he
desired to allow to every one the latitude granted by
^ Church, is revealed to us by his conduct towards
1-103-32. Dean Colet, whose case I have reserved for special
consideration. The subject is in this connexion the
more important, because, by knowing the principles of
Colet, we may infer those of the archbishop.

John Colet was a man of fortune, the son of Sir
Henry, sometime Lord Mayor of London. He was in
after life vehement in denouncing the abuses of the
Church ; but at its commencement, he himself exhibited
an example of the maladministration of the Church's
preferment. He was only nineteen when he was pre-
ferred to the great living of Denington,'" in Suffolk, a
piece of preferment which he held afterwards with the
deanery of St. Paul's, and kept to his dying day. He
had a prebend in the cathedral of York. His father
also presented him to the church of Thoyning, in the
diocese of Lincoln, f He had stalls in the church of
St. Mary-le-Grand, and in the cathedral of Salisbury.
These preferments he obtained before he was even in
deacon's orders ; it was doubtful whether he were even
a sub-deacon or more than an acolyte.J

Thus splendidly endowed, John Colet studied at

* The income of this living of Denington amounts at the present
time to 850^. a year. The population is considerable.

t I do not find this living in the Clergy List, unless it be
Thurning. We have the presentation to the living, which was pro-
bably purchased by Sir Henry as a good investment. " Henricus
Colet, miles — Prccsentamus dilectum nobis Johannem Colet, Rectorem
eccles. parocli. E. Marice de Denyngton Norvic. dioc. ; ad ecclesiam
de Tlioyniny dioc. vestrcz modo vacantem per mortem Ricardi ult'nnl
rectoris. Dot. ult. die mensis Sept. 1-190. Reg. Russel ad
Lincoln."

J Knight, 20. He remarks that Calet was the usual mode
of pronouncing Colet, and that this title gave name to Colet's
family.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 285

Oxford, and probably at Cambridge.* On the con-
clusion of his studies at the English universities, he
went first to Paris and then to Italy. Whether he
went in company with his distinguished countrymen, i:
of whom mention has been made before, is more than
doubtful ; but that he formed in Italy an intimacy with
Grocyn, Linacre, William Lilly, and William Latimer
is certain. We know of Grocyn and of Linacre that
they were admitted into the highest literary circles of
Florence, and shared the studies of the Medicean
princes. If Colet had also been at Florence, such an im-
portant fact in his history would not have been omitted.
He was at Borne, and there he probably met with
Grocyn and Linacre, with William Lilly, who had
lately arrived from Rhodes, and they all went to Padua,
where William Latimer was perfecting himself in
Greek. These were all friends of Warham, and all
found in him a protector or a patron. The study of
Greek was an European enthusiasm, and to introduce
those studies, or rather to render them a part of the
curriculum at Oxford, was their object, and in this
object they succeeded. On their return home tlu-v
were each of them engaged in raising the literary
character of their country ; finding a home, when-
ever they required one, in the mansions of tin-
archbishop, who, soon after their return, retired from
public life.

Colet repaired to Oxford. He declined applying for
priest's orders, from the tender regard, as Knight sup-
poses, which he had to the dignity of the sacred office
and function, though this regard did not prevent him
from enjoying the emoluments of a pluralist. He did
not hold any office under government, and, therefore,
on his ordination, he would have been compelled to dis-

* Polydore Yergil, (:. vi.

286 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, charge the duties of a parish priest for which he was

_^_, not prepared. He thought, no doubt, that with his

Wai-ham. f°reign experience he might be more usefully employed

1503-32. as a lecturer at Oxford ;* and, as a Master of Arts,

he was not only authorized to lecture, but, strictly

speaking, he was required to do so.

The young man's lecture-room was filled, not merely
by undergraduates, but by doctors in divinity and law,
by abbots, and dignitaries of the Church, proving
what has been stated before, that, although there were
opponents to the new learning, there was no attempt
on the part of the authorities at the university to put
it down. He only met with that opposition which
was sure to be raised against him by those who, in their
interpretation of Scripture had committed themselves
to a system of interpretation adverse to that which
Colet maintained. It would appear that the other
young men who had visited Italy had agreed, when
they returned to England, to commence their work by
expounding the Epistles of St. Paul ; for a similar
course was pursued at Cambridge.t At Oxford, Colet
became acquainted with Erasmus, and he received
from Erasmus some of those well-turned compliments
with which that great scholar repaid his benefactors.
We gather from the letters of Erasmus, that Colet was
a man of great ability ; not a good Greek scholar, but
a plain-spoken, honest man, who had great command
over language, so as to make himself thoroughly in-
telligible when handling a difficult subject. He was,
however, a man of hasty temper, who, when assailed,
so spoke as to convert an opponent into an enemy.

* As M. A. he might lecture at Oxford ; "but could not lecture
elsewhere until he was a doctor, except by special licence.
t Knight; 26, 28.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 287

The labours not of Colet only or chiefly, but of CHAP.

that learned band of brothers who had gone from the _.

English universities to Italy, thence to bring forth -^.^
the new learning, were successful, and the success was 1503-3-2.
rapid as well as great. It must have been after their
time that Erasmus uttered the memorable sentence,
that he found so much learning and polish in England
— not mere shallow learning, but profound and exact,
both in Latin and Greek — that, except for his being
able to say that he had been there, he should have
ceased to entertain a wish to visit Italy.

While Colet was lecturing at Oxford, AVarham was
Lord High Chancellor of England ; and to his influence
with King Henry VII. we are to attribute Colet's ap-
pointment to the deanery of St. Paul's. There it was
open for Colet to pursue his career as a lecturer, and
he had a more extended sphere of action. The learn-
ing of the university was now brought to bear on the
metropolis. In London as at Oxford his persuasive
and lucid eloquence gathered around him large con-
gregations from the court as well as from the city.
The rich and the noble sat with the merchant and his
apprentices. Jesus Christ and Him crucified was the
one subject of his discourse. He did not split hairs
with the schoolmen, but he adhered to the New
Testament and the Apostles' Creed, This was to him
an exhaustless subject.

But, with all his merits — and the merits of the
founder of St. Paul's School were many and great —
Colet had faults which made him unpopular. He
was narrow-minded ; he could not take one side
without becoming a vehement assailant of those who
walked not with him ; he could not uphold the new
learning without attacking Thomas Aquinas, and his
language was often violent and incautious. He had

288 LIVES OF THE

devoted admirers and friends ; but the enemies of such
a man were likely to be bitter. He made himself a
Warham Party man in London when to form a party was inex-
1503-32. pcdient, and by a strong party he was, of course,
opposed. He was, moreover, ascetic in his habits, and
not given to hospitality, when hospitality was a de-
canal virtue, not to be dispensed with.

The word " hospitality" in the middle age had a
more extensive signification than it has at the present
time. The dean and each member of the chapter had
to provide, at his own expense, a common table for
the members of the establishment of every degree.
This was indeed the remuneration of the subordinate
members of the corporation. At first, a common fund
was established ; but this fund was in process of time-
broken up, — the members of the chapter received divi-
dends, and the inferior officers stipends. Still the
custom of keeping hospitality lingered in many
cathedrals, and in a modified state remained to our
own times. Each dean and prebendary during his
residence kept a certain number of public days ; this
was especially the case in Durham. In Colet's time,
hospitality was in a transition state. The various
officers of St. Paul's cathedral received their salaries,
and they expected the dean to keep a table for them,
if not, as in times past, every day, ' yet probably on
every festival of the Church, at a time when festivals
were numerous. We can easily understand how these
entertainments in London, among the lower class of
the clergy and their dependents, degenerated into
riotous living, and brought discredit on religion. The
austere dean determined to effect a reform. The
munificence of the founder of St. Paul's school was
such as to secure him from the suspicion of penu-
riousness, and Colet acted probably with the full

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY.

250

approbation of Warham and the higher ranks of the

_ v. It i> not precisely what you do that gives offence,

but an unhappy manner of doing it. Colet so conducted

reform as to excite against himself the animosity

of all the underlings of his church. The dean found

it more difficult to contend with the Cretan bellies

of his petty canons, than to struggle against the

Boeotian intellects of his opponents at Oxford.

The Bishop of London was Richard Fitzjames.* He
a violent party man, and his party was directly

* Bichard Fitzjames, descended from an ancient and knightly
family, was bom at Bedlinch, in Somersetshire. Dallaway gives
his pedigree. Educated at Mertou College, Oxford, he became a
fellow in 1465. He served the office of proctor in 1473, and on
the 12th of March, 1483, he was elected warden. In the same
year he became vice-chancellor. He was a student, and became
a Scotist. like a Calvinist in those days, he confounded his
scholastic opinions with Christianity, and, as they do, regarded as
undeserving the name of Christian any whose opinion did not
accord with his own. He does not appear to have been more in-
tolerant than some modern prelates of strong party feelings, though
he was invested with more terrible powers to enforce his doctrines.
He held a prebend in the Cathedral of "Wells, in the year 1475,
and of that church became a residentiary. On September 18th,
1483, he was appointed treasurer of St. Paul's. He was chaplain
to Edward IV. and master of St. Leonard's Hospital, in Bedford.
In June, 1495, he was Lord High Almoner to Henry VII. On
the 21st of May, 1497, he was consecrated at Lambeth to the see
of Bochester, and on the 29th of November, 1503, he was trans-
lated to Chichester. On the 2d of August, 1506, he was removed
to the see of London. On the 1 1th of February, 1503, he preached
the funeral sermon of Queen Elizabeth. He expended large sums
of money in building, and encouraged magnificent works of archi-
tecture, particularly by completing the fabric of St. Mary's Church,
at Oxford. His brother was Sir John Fitzjames, Lord Chief Justice,
and in conjunction with him the bishop founded Burton SchooL
He was mixed up with the sad story of Bichard Hun, of which I
shall have occasion hereafter to speak. He died Jan. 15, 1521,
and was buried at St. Paul's. — Dalkway's Sussex, i. 67 ; Wood,
Athenae, ii 720 ; Ang. Sac. i. 381 ; Fuller.
VOL. VI. U

William
Warham.

1503-32.

290 LIVES OF THE

CHAP opposed to that which regarded the dean, as one of its

— L_ leaders. Colet dwelt upon the facts of Christianity,

Wai-ham* an(^ thought scorn of the speculations of the school-

1503-32. men, while the party to which Fitzjames belonged

reasoned d, priori, and assumed the facts to be such

as would substantiate their intuitions or their logical

conclusions.

The underlings of St. Paul's were aware, that the
bishop would be happy to support them in any charge
of heresy they could bring against their dean. While
they were opening their mouths in vain for a supply
from the fleshpots, the dean was providing the mental
pabulum which they were unable to digest, and deter-
mined if possible to represent as poison.

Colet was incautious, or rather went out of his way
to express his contempt for the theology of which the
Bishop of London was the advocate. The dean de-
clared he had searched Scripture in vain for any con-
firmation of the peculiar teaching of " the subtle
doctor," who was an apostle to Fitzjames. It was not
Fitzjames only that he offended : the theology of the
Bishop of London was the theology of other divines,
arid in his proceedings against Colet he was supported
by other prelates. The Bishop of London was himself
a narrow-minded man, but we can hardly sympathize
with those writers who represent the opponents of
Colet as necessarily fools ; nor can we excuse Colet
from a charge of narrow-mindedness, though his nar-
rowness lay in an opposite direction.

It was now that the patronage of Warham was
needed to protect the weak against the strong. Charges
were brought against the dean by the inferior clergy
of St. Paul's, to which the bishop lent a ready ear.

The bishop could not, however, proceed summarily
against the dean, or cite him, as he might have done

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 291

a parochial clergyman, into his court. It is said " to
pertain to the dignity of any member of a cathedral

i ^ -,. • 1 1 • i_ i ^ V 1,

chapter, that it is only in chapter that the bishop can
speak to him." The bishop, with reference to the 1502-32.
chapter in a cathedral of secular clergy, neither had
nor has, ordinary jurisdiction ; his power is simply that
of a visitor, and he can only interpose his authority at
a visitation. To protect the dean and chapter from
vexatious proceedings on the part of their visitor,
the bishop cannot hold a visitation more frequently
than once in seven years ; unless he be requested by
the dean and chapter to visit for the purpose of making
new statutes ; or unless a representation be made to
him of the existence of abuses which require extra-
ordinary powers to investigate. In the latter case,
however, an appeal will lie against the visitor to the
metropolitan. If it be alleged, that the pretext for a
visitation is vexatious, the archbishop is to decide
whether the visitation shall be held or not.

The Bishop of London signified to the dean and
chapter of St. Paul's his intention to hold a visitation,
that he might inquire into the doctrines advanced
from the pulpit by the dean. The dean and chapter
appealed. It was necessary on the appeal to state the
specific charges which were to be brought against the
dean, in order that the archbishop might judge whether
they were of sufficient importance to render the visita-
tion necessary. The charges in the present case were
so trivial as to render the action of the bishop almost
ridiculous. Colet was a disputatious man, and fond of
argument ; the archbishop therefore may have been
afraid of his friend, lest he should in some way have
committed himself. But it was found that in preach-
ing he had confined himself to a simple exposition of
Scripture. His vehemence, which was considerable,

U 2

292 LIVES OF THE

exhausted itself in condemning the inconsistent con-
duct and lives of ecclesiastics ; he had not accused the
Wai-ham Church of holding any unscriptural doctrine. He was
1503-32. not, indeed, prepared to do so. He desired to ascertain
for himself, and to induce others to ascertain, what
the Scriptures teach. What he could not find in Scrip-
ture he abstained from noticing. All that his accusers
could do was to infer his heresy from his silence,
and their inferences were sufficiently strange. It was
said, that he had instructed the people that images
ought not to be worshipped. If Colet was the com-
panion of Erasmus, when Erasmus visited the shrine
of St. Thomas of Canterbury, we can imagine that the
preacher gave offence by his contemptuous manner of
treating the subject. The ipsissima, verba would have
been produced if his language had been as provoking
as his manner. But, be that as it may, this was the
strong point with his opponents, who were hard
pressed to substantiate their charges against him. The
dean was lecturing on the twenty-first of St. John.
The hungry subordinates of the cathedral were all
attention, The cathedral was filled with an attentive
audience. The preacher remarked on the repetition
three times of the word " Pasce." He pointed out
the forced construction placed upon Scripture not
unfrequently by the schoolmen. They agreed, and
the preacher agreed with them, that the word
" Pasce, Pasce," twice repeated, were to be understood
in a metaphorical sense ; and that the reference was to
spiritual food. But, when the word " Pasce " was
repeated the third time, the petty canons had hitherto
instructed the people to believe that our divine Master
alluded to that virtue of hospitality in relation to
things carnal in which the dean was deficient. It was

considered monstrous,, that the dean in his preaching

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 293

should understand the injunction in a metaphorical
sense. It was contrary to the doctrine of the schools,
therefore it was heresy. We shall, in the progress of
our history, find men accused of heresy because they 1503-32.
have understood Scripture in a sense different from
that adopted by Calvin ; it was the same evil principle
which was now at work, resulting from an oblivion of
our Lord's command that we should call no man
master. They indeed, whose god was their belly,
gloried in their shame, when on this ground they
brought an accusation of heresy against the ascetic dean.

Bishop Fitzjames was not only a violent party man,
a leader among the Scotists whom Colet attacked : he
was also old, sensitive, and tetchy. It was the custom,
as we are informed by Erasmus, for the clergy of the
Church of England, at this period, to read their ser-
mons ; the practice was censured by the " men of the
new learning," and Colet had more than once com-
plained that these written sermons were read in a
cold, unaffecting manner. Now the Bishop of London
was an offender in this respect, and the dean was
accused of using the pulpit to bring the bishop of the
diocese into discredit.

The archbishop, when the case was brought before
him, saw that, at best, the proceeding originated in
mere party feeling, the Scotists being anxious to
silence an opponent, and that the flame of party spirit
had been fanned by malice. He decided that the dean
had not exceeded the limits which the Church per-
mitted to freedom of thought and speech ; he gave
judgment, accordingly, for the reformer against the
prosecutor. The bishop appealed from the metro-
politan to the king — another instance of the practical
supremacy of the crown ; the king refused to interfere.
The dean of St. Paul's remained unmolested, not the

294 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, most discreet of men, but venerated for his learning,

—J— his sincerity and his piety.

Warham. ^ we are inclined to accuse Warbam of indolence

1503-32. we must admit that his indolence did not imply lack
of courage. His determination, as a reformer, is
evinced in his choice of one so bold, so uncompromis-
ing, and plain-spoken as Colet to address the clergy
when the convocation assembled in 1513. This took
place before the appointment of Wolsey to the office of
legate d latere, and confirms what has been said before
of the reasons which induced Warham to submit to an
arrangement which was a temporary degradation of
himself. Warham had not the sagacity to see how
necessary it was to commence with the reformation of
the Church. His object was to reform the clergy ;
and, as the first step, he desired to expose their
malpractices to public view. His opinions on this head
concurred with those of Colet, and he compelled Colet,
in opposition to his own inclinations, to the per-
formance of an invidious and ungrateful office. The
sermon delivered by Colet on this occasion is the more
important, as it may be regarded as indicating the
opinion of Warham.*

The preacher began by adverting to the fact, that he
should have shrunk from the office, if the duty had
not been imposed upon him " by the most reverend
father and lord, the president of this Council." Fol-
lowing the example of the fathers of the Council of
Constance, he was vehement in his denunciation of the

* The sermon, in Latin, is found in the Appendix to Knight.
The date given by Knight is 1511. Burnet provides us with an
abbreviated translation, and gives the date 1513. As Parliament
did not sit in 1511, and did sit in 1513, we may presume that a
convocation was not summoned for 1511, and I therefore take 1513
as the correct date.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 295

pride and ambition of churchmen, their feastings, CHAP.
banquetings, vain babblings, sports, plays, hunting, — ^L,
hawking, lust, and concupiscence. All this is too rhe- ^JJJJ™
torical to be of much real value. He is more practical 1503-32.
when he complains of the burdens of episcopal visita-
tions ; of the grand grievance of all, the corruption of
the ecclesiastical courts ; of various new inventions
resorted to for the mere purpose of extorting money
from the poor and needy ; of the avarice of officials in
the exaction of their dues ; of the great abuses in the
probate of wills and the sequestration of first-fruits ; on
the vigorous enforcement of laws which, through the

*— ' * O

fines imposed, brought profit to the court, and of the
shameful neglect of all others that tend only to the
reformation of manners. The crying evil of the eccle-
siastical courts, for the reform of which \Yarham was
prepared to make great sacrifices, is so strongly urged
as to induce the supposition that before the sermon
was delivered it was submitted to the inspection of
the primate. Colet then again became rhetorical, and
taking up the popular topics, warned the superior
clergy, the "holy fathers/' against simony and
nepotism, whereby it happened that boys and block-
heads and sots had obtained preferments in the
Church.* He again became practical, and exhorted
the bishops to put in force the canons which forbade
any man in holy orders to be a merchant, a usurer,
a hunter, a gamester, or a soldier; especially those
canons which restrain the clergy from haunting taverns
and from keeping company with suspected women.
He boldly rebuked the bishops, who were, too many
of them, anything but spiritual, earthly rather than

f The reference to boys holding preferments comes with a bad
grace from Colet, but of this kind of inconsistency men are often
guilty when they indulge in rhetorical phraseology.

296 LIVES OF THJE

heavenly, savouring of the things of this world more
than of the spirit of Christ. He urges this the rather
Watham. because he held high the priestly dignity, which is
1503-32. greater than royal or imperial dignity, and equal even
to that of angels. He concludes with a peroration,
eloquent from its earnestness and powerful from the
evident sincerity of the speaker.

To what extent the advice of the preacher was
followed is not recorded. We only know, as has been
before narrated, that Warham gave up the cause of
reformation in despair ; or rather that he permitted
it to be attempted by Wolsey, armed with the extra-
ordinary powers of a legate d latere.

Although Wolsey had no time, during the few years
of his being at the head of the government, to carry
any great measures into effect, he was thoroughly in
earnest when he commenced his career as legate, and
was jealous of Warham's interference.* He knew

* No one is more inclined to do justice to Wolsey than Mr.
Brewer, and there is no one whose opinion is so worthy of attention
in whatever relates to the reign of Henry VIII. He observes of
Wolsey, " Throughout the whole period of his long administration,
and through all his correspondence, it is remarkable how small a
portion of his thoughts is occupied with domestic affairs, and with
religious matters still less. Looking back upon the reign, and
judging it, as we now do, by one great event and one only, it
appears inconceivable that a man of so much penetration and
experience should have taken so little interest in the religious
movement of the day, and regarded Luther and the progress of
the Reformation with so little concern." To this we must add that
he would not permit others to act, when he was unable to act
himself ; a fact from which we infer that he fully intended to direct
his powerful mind to domestic and ecclesiastical affairs, when foreign
politics would permit him to find the time. It is to be remembered
that the title of Protestant had only been partially assumed in 1529,
and that the Articles of Torgau were not drawn up till 1530. We
may say that Wolsey 's struggle, not merely for power but for
existence, began in 1527.

AECHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 297

that, if he had been himself the Primate of All Eng- CHAP.
land, he would not have permitted the Metropolitan - — ^
of York to be invested with powers which virtually, ^ii^m.
though only for a time, superseded the authority of 1503-32.
the Archbishop of Canterbury, and he suspected that
Warham, though he had conceded the authority,
would be jealous of its exercise. We have seen how
Wolsey assumed, in what related to ecclesiastical
courts, certain powers beyond what Warham thought
necessary and expedient ; and we have also seen how
the timid and indolent nature of Warham cowered
before the master mind of Wolsey, and how Wolsey 's
haughty spirit was melted into friendship towards the
yielding primate.

When we pass from the courts of law and the uni-
vt-r>ity to the legislative transactions of the two
prelates, we have nearly the same story to tell. There
was, at the commencement of their joint career, the
same misunderstanding, the same proud assumption
of authority on the one side, and the same mild re-
sistance and subsequent surrender on the other The
reader will only understand the real state of the case
if he bears in mind, that what is now to be narrated
occurred soon after the appointment of Wolsey
as cardinal and legate, before he understood the
character of Warham, and before the amiable dis-
position of Warham had conciliated the friendship of
Wolsey.

Warham and Wolsey, even at this time, to a certain
extent, had come to an understanding. They both
agreed in the opinion that a reformation of the Church,
or at all events of the clergy, was a subject of the
greatest importance. They both agreed that to effect
this by the ordinary constitutional authority of the
Archbishop of Canterbury was a thing impossible.

298 LIVES OF THE

CHAP. Both agreed that it was desirable that a legate d
— ~ later e should be appointed, and the unambitious

~\\~ * 1 1 *

WarfuU Warham was quite aware that, if a legate was to be
1503-32. appointed, the appointment would rest upon Wolsey.
But Warham expected that the legate would co-
operate with the primate ; whereas Wolsey deter-
mined that Warham should only act as the first
minister of the legate. Warham, from his point of
view, thought it important that, as the two were to
act together, their respective jurisdictions should be
clearly defined. Wolsey could hardly object to such
an arrangement, but he never intended to adhere to
it. An agreement had been made with reference
to the limits of jurisdiction to be observed in the
legatine court ; on the first misunderstanding on the
subject, we have seen how quietly Wolsey remarked
to his correspondent that he had entirely miscom-
prehended the nature of their agreement. When in
a dispute one party assumes the exclusive right to
place his own interpretation on the law, it only re-
mains for the other party to yield with what grace
he may, or gird himself for the battle.

In what related to the conduct of convocations
and synods, the two prelates had come, as Warham
supposed, to a clear understanding in the presence of
the king. The king did not lay down the law, or
give much thought to the subject, but he gave his
sanction to what the two prelates proposed. Wolsey
was convinced that, although when the king was de-
termined upon a subject there was no alternative,
and that obedience must be rendered to the royal com-
mand ; yet, having the king's ear, he was also confident
that, when the king was not personally interested or
committed to a subject, he would support his minister
in any construction it might be expedient to place

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 299

Upon an expression of the royal mind. Wolsey offered CHAP.
no objections to the proposals of Warham. ~

Even-thing being, as "\Varham supposed, arranged -J^1™.
and settled, the archbishop was prepared to act. 1503-32.

In the Convocation of 1513, the archbishop had
employed the eloquence of Dean Colet to signify to
his suffragans and the clergy of his province, the
nature of the reforms he intended to introduce into
the Church. Nothing however was done till the year
He was now prepared to propose certain
ures of reform. It never occurred to him that
those measures were to be initiated by the legate ; the
legate was, he supposed, only to be called in when
extraordinary power was requisite to enforce the
measures. Leaving it to Wolsey, as Archbishop of
York, to convene the clergy of the northern province,
the Archbishop of Canterbury summoned his suffragans
and his clergy to meet him at Lambeth, there to hold a
synod for the adoption of immediate measure of reform.

To his astonishment he received the following letter
from Cardinal Wolsey : —

" MY LORD, after hearty commendations. This day, to my
no little marvel, I have seen the copy of such monitions as
you have directed to your suffragans, commanding them by
the same to repair to Lambeth, where you intend to keep a
great counsel with them, for the reformation of divers great
enormities, expressed in your said monitions and committed
through your province ; alleging that the rather ye be moved
so to do, forasmuch as it hath pleased the king's grace, like
a noble and virtuous prince to move you thereunto. My
lord, albeit such and many other things, as be specially
expressed in your said monitions, be to be reformed generally
through the Church of England, as well in my province as in
yours, and being legate a latcre-, to me chiefly it appertaineth
to see the reformation of the premises, though hitherto, not in
time coming, I have ne will execute any jurisdiction as legate

300 LIVES OP THE

a later e ; but only as I shall stand with the king's pleasure;
yet assured I am that his grace will not I should be so little
William esteemed, that you should enterprise the said reformation to

\\T I

the express derogation of the said dignity of the see apostolic,
and otherwise than the law will suffer you, without my advice,
consent, and knowledge ; nor you had no such commandment
of his grace, but expressly the contrary. And that well
appeared when his grace and highness willed you to repair
to me at Greenwich, sitting in administration of divines in
the choir, at which time I appointed to have special com-
munication with you apart, afore any monitions should be
sent forth. Wherefore, my lord, since you have done other-
wise than was agreed at that time and the king commanded
you, necessary it shall be that forthwith you repair to me, as
well to be learned of the considerations, which moved you thus
to do besides my knowledge, as also to have communication
with you for divers things concerning your person, and
declaration of the same of the king's pleasure further, as at
this time it shall not be much incommodious unto you thus
to come to me, forasmuch as I intend to be at Eichmond
eight or ten days, from whence your place of Mortlake is not
far distant, where you may for the time right easily and
pleasantly be lodged, and we both with little pain often repair
together, as the case shall require. And thus heartily fare
you well. From my house of York," &c. *

Upon this extraordinary document it is necessary
to make some remarks. We must first renew our
observations on the carelessness or the malignity of
Foxe, and of the historians who take him for their
authority, when they assume that, until the clergy were
attacked in the parliament of 1529, Warham and the
superior clergy had taken no steps to remove the
acknowledged grievances of which the laity com-
plained. The first thing' Warham did after his appoint-
ment to the primacy was, as we have seen, to effect a
salutary reform in the ecclesiastical courts. He then
brought the subject of reform before the convocation.
* Wilkins, iii. 660.

AKCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 301

When he found it impossible for the Primate of All CHAP.
England, by the exercise of his ordinary functions to —1-
effect this object, he sought extraordinary powers -vvaiham.
through the Church of Eome, and accepted a legate, 1503-32.
a later e. Upon the appointment of the legate he com-
menced operations, by convening the synod to which'
we have just referred.

An Englishman may feel just indignation at the
unprecedented measure to which he had recourse,
when he permitted a legate d latere to assume office
in England ; but we can hardly accuse him of not
attempting a reform, and we are not justified in
saying that all was a failure, because, through cir-
cumstances, Wolsey never found time to discharge
the extraordinary functions conceded to him. It is one
thing to condemn the proposed measures, and it is
another thing to affirm that they were never taken.

The next thing to be remarked is the deference
which "Wolsey paid to the king, — the supremacy
which he acknowledged in fact, if not in words. To
this we add, that he did not perform a single legis-
lative act without the king's entire permission, — a
circumstance which renders Henry's subsequent treat-
ment of the cardinal as extraordinary as it was cruel
and iniquitous.

The tone of Wolsey 's letter is perfectly savage. At
the same time, we must admit that there were circum-
stances which might give him provocation, if not
justly, yet not to our surprise. We must bear in mind,
that this letter was written in 1518, that is, before
friendly relations were established between the primate
and the cardinal. Wolsey was not acquainted, at the
time, with Warham's character. It appeared to him
that A\ arham was the aggressor. The archbishop was
here assuming the right of initiation ; it appeared that,

302 LIVES OF THE

although he had invoked the assumption of lega-
tine powers by the cardinal, he intended him onlv to

William

Warham. play a secondary part, — to be called in when, by the
1503-32. ordinary processes of the canon law of the Church,
the archbishop was unable to carry his point. To
play a second part, however, was a thing intolerable
to Wolsey, who must be first or nothing. It appeared
to him that Warham was playing a deep and unfair
game. Warham was not likely to do this ; but we may
presume that the cardinal was so far right that when
conceding legatine power to Wolsey, Warham origin-
ally designed to be assisted, not to be superseded.

We will further remark on the grotesque rudeness,
the uncontrollable violence, of Wolsey's letter. We
see, in one of the most accomplished men of the age,
how a high state of civilization in what pertains to
the externals of society was not inconsistent with a
character almost like that of a barbarian in the indi-
vidual. In the correspondence of ambassadors, the fact
is sometimes mentioned that they met with rudeness in
their conversations with Wolsey, and that in his ex-
pressions he placed himself under no restraint. This
is mentioned rather as an incident, not as anything
unusual in the intercourse of public men. Men were
not educated to restrain their passions ; everything was
violent and cruel. The cruelty of the age must be
taken into account when we speak of persecutors. Men
were impatient of contradiction ; and, in their im-
patience, they hesitated not, if it were not inconsistent
with the policy of the state, to bring an opponent to
the scaffold. If we pass from England to France, from
Henry VIII. of England to Francis I. and Henry IV.
of France, it would seem as if no bounds could be set
to the passions of anger and lust, when the ability to
indulge those passions was conceded.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 303

No man seems to have had less power to restrain C^AP-
his passions than Wolsey : though urgent for the ™
reform of the clergy, he was an unmarried father of Warham.
children ;* though a man of really kind feelings, he 1503-32.
desired to make men fear rather than love him.

Warham, as usual, succumbed.! The interview
between the primates took place ; the result was, that
a synod for the purpose of eifecting a reformation of
the Church was called ; but not in the name of the
Archbishop of Canterbury. It was summoned in the
name of the legate, and was to meet on the first
Monday of the ensuing Lent. When the appointed
time arrived nothing was done ; for the plague was
raging in London. J When at length, in the Lent
of the following year, the synod did meet, although
certain articles were adopted, yet nothing of importance
was transacted. Wolsey had not possessed the leisure
to lay down the laws which the synod were to enact.
But he carried one point of importance to himself.
The suffragans of Canterbury submitted to his domi-
nation, and published the articles, not under a mandate
from their metropolitan, but by order of the legate.

There might be a question, when the authority
of a legate was, by the royal permission, exercised in
England, whether Warham had authority to summon
a synod in his own name as distinguished from a con-
vocation. The proceeding was irregular, and, without
consulting the king, the archbishop did not venture
to act. But, when a convocation was to be called,

* See the letter of John Chesy to Master Crumwell. (Ellis, 1st
Series, vol. ii. p. 92). The thirty-eighth of the articles exhibited in
Parliament against Wolsey, speaks of two natural children.

t Regist. Car. Booth, Hereford, fol. xxxvii.

t The reader is referred generally to Wake and to Wilkins, iii.
€60, 661, 681, 682.

304 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, there was no doubt in any one's mind that it ought
• — v— to be called without reference to the legate. As a
Warham. matter of course, the writs for the convocation were
1503-32. issued in the name of the Archbishop of Canterbury,
as those of York in the name of Wolsey, in his
capacity of Archbishop of York. In the year 1523
the Convocation of Canterbury, not summoned for
any special purpose, but with the single 'view of
granting a subsidy to the Crown, assembled, as was
usual, in St. Paul's cathedral. Wolsey, as Archbishop
of York, summoned his suffragans and clergy to meet
him at Westminster. The Northern clergy might well
complain of having been compelled to take a long,
hazardous, and expensive journey for the convenience
of their metropolitan ; but this was not an affair of
the Southern convocation.

The clergy of the province of Canterbury met.
They proceeded to the transaction of business, in the
chapter-house of St. Paul's. Suddenly, to their sur-
prise, a messenger arrived from Westminster. The
Convocation of Canterbury, the Primate of All England,
his suffragans, his clergy, were required to appear
immediately before the lord legate at Westminster.
However surprising the call may have been, no one
seems to have hesitated for a moment to obey the
mandate of the royal favourite. But it is not to be
doubted that, in the interval between the meeting of
convocation and their being summoned to appear before
the legate at Westminster, something had occurred,
of which no record has been preserved, which had
excited feelings of indignation in the irascible cardinal.
He had permitted the Convocation of Canterbury to
assemble ; he had co-operated with the Archbishop of
Canterbury, by calling at the same time the Convoca-
tion of York ; they had actually assembled. This was

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 305

not, therefore, a case parallel with the former one. CHAP.

It is possible, that the legate had received information,

that, besides being called upon to vote a subsidy, ^JJjJ™
certain questions were to be brought under discussion, 1503-32.
which Wolsey determined to have discussed only when
the legate was present.

"\Varham was not the man to raise an objection.
The clergy again were prepared to admit, as they had
admitted before, that if there were a legate d latere,
he might convene a synod. But Wolsey was not, on
this occasion, to have it all his own way. The Convo-
cation of Canterbury was united with the Convocation
of York, and met as a synod at Westminster. Wolsey
lord paramount. The business, however, most
pressing, — that for which the two convocations had
been summoned, — related to the granting of a subsidy ;
yet when to the amalgamated convocation the cardinal
proposed a grant of money to the king, it was humbly
represented to him, that it was by convocation only
that a subsidy could be voted ; that -in obedience to a
mandate from the cardinal they had assembled in
synod ; but that they could only vote money in their
character of proctors for the clergy, and that for this
purpose the clergy of Canterbury must return to St.
Paul's, and act independently of the Convocation of
York. Wolsey at once perceived, that he had taken a
wrong step, — that in every diocese there would be
persons ready to plead the illegality of the vote in
order to excuse themselves from paying an unpopular
tax. and that payment, in many instances, would,
under such circumstances, have to be enforced by
the strong arm. Resort to extreme measures would
involve the government in unpopularity, and the
love of popularity was in Henry an amiable weak-
ness, inducing him sometimes to abstain from an evil

VOL. vi. x

William

306 LIVES OF THE

action, and, at others, to vindicate his conduct as
we see it vindicated in the preambles of his Acts of

Into the merits or demerits of the case, how far the
conduct of Wolsey was a wilful act of aggression or
how far a mere act of self-defence, we cannot, with the
materials we possess, venture to affirm. The popu-
larity of the cardinal was waning, and the people sup-
ported the primate and his clergy. Hall, the chronicler,
always hostile to Wolsey, alludes to the transaction
as something unprecedented and unjustifiable. " The
cardinal, by his legatine power," he says, "dissolved
the Convocation of St. Paul's, cited by the archbishop,
and he summoned the archbishop and all the clergy to
Westminster, which was never seen before in England,
whereof Master Skelton, a merry poet, wrote —

" ' Gentle Paule, laie down thy sweard,

For Peter at Westminster hath shaven thy beard.' "*

Throughout these transactions we are inclined to
complain of the apathy of the primate, and yet, after
his concession of the legatine power to Wolsey, it is
difficult to say how, as a good man, who desired tho
well-being of his Church and country through the
instrumentality of another, he could have done other-
wise than he did.

Warham had, as far as it was possible for him,
retired from the world ; and, in perverting a high and
important office into a station in which he might enjoy
his otium cum dignitate, he yielded to the influence
of the age in which he lived. We have only to refer
to the biographers of great men, the contemporaries of
Warham, to see that this was the object at which the

* Yorkshiremen entertain much respect for the name of Skelton,
but in these lines the malice is more apparent than the wit.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 307

leading characters of the day were aiming. They WAV.
laboured to acquire high station, fortune, and fame ; ~~"?~'
and, these acquired, they hoped to devote the rest of warham.
their days to the enjoyment of those literary pursuits 1503-3*
which, ever since the fall of Constantinople, had been
not merely a fashion, but a rage. When from defect
of primary education a man could not himself take a
position among learned men, still by the scholars of the
day, he might surround himself, and to their Mecsenas
an immortality of fame was accorded by the men of
erudition who wore fed by his bounty or encouraged by
his patronage. There was, no doubt, some self-decep-
tion on the part of great men who were conscious that
their genius tended not so much to a mastery of the
intricacies of literature and science, as to the govern-
ment of their fellow-creatures ; but still, in their self-
deception, we see, that the idea of human happiness
related to the possession of a princely income, to th^
cultivation of the intellect, and to the enjoyment of a
literary society. We can hardly believe, that the timo
would ever have arrived when Wolsey would have
voluntarily relieved himself from the labours of a
statesman ; but we have his own authority for saying,
that what he desired was to retire from public life.
What he talked of was actually accomplished by
Charles V. It was with the object of enjoying in art
aristocratic retreat the fruits of his labours, that Crum-
well hoarded his money and erected his palaces. It
was thus that we account for his obtaining his earldom
just before his execution : his ministry had failed to
accomplish what he had proposed to the king, and he
asked the king to permit him to retire upon an earl-
dom, the honours of which his wealth, hard earned, if
not well earned, would enable him to sustain. Henrv

acceded to the proposal, though he afterwards deter -

x 2

308

j£Pt mined upon his ruin. If Erasmus did not retire

rp:7~ to some remote abode, and would not have tied him-

Warham. self to any particular locality, his life was a life of

1503-32. literary enjoyment. Colet, at one time, thought of

seeking a retreat in the Charterhouse.

That there should be this anxiety on the part of the
great men of the world, to realize in retirement the
fruit of their labours, will appear natural, if we
observe the difficulties by which the great men were
surrounded, and the dangers they had to encounter.
How great these were may be inferred from the effect
which the labours of public men produced upon their
natural constitutions. Of the public characters of the
day we scarcely find one who was not prematurely
old. We are accustomed to regard Henry VII. as an
old man : and, as a man well stricken in years his
portraits exist to represent him ; and yet when he died
Henry VII. was only fifty-two years of age. The
marriage of Louis XII. with the Lady Mary of
England was regarded as a misalliance on account of
the age of the bridegroom ; yet when, shortly after the
marriage, the bridegroom died, he was only fifty-four
years old. Maximilian was only sixty when he paid
the debt of nature, and Charles died at fifty-nine.
Francis I. was fifty-three, and Henry VIII. only fifty-
six. Wolsey was bowed down to the grave by his
cares, his sorrows, and his fears, an old man at fifty-
five. Statesmen felt that their lives, as well as their
fortunes, were held at the will of their monarchs, and
monarchs courted war until they experienced the
miseries it entailed. They were in constant dread of
the rivalry of surrounding sovereigns, or the machi-
nations of rebellious subjects ; of pretenders to their
thrones, and of the dagger of the assassin. To these
fears we may attribute some of their most iniquitous,

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 309

despotic, and tyrannical actions ; in self-defence, as CHAP.
they supposed, they became legal murderers. '-,

William Warham, when, in high station, and with ^rtfa™.
the command of great wealth, he resigned, contrary to 1503-32.
"Wolsey's wish, the great seal, was an object of admi-
ration, respect, and envy to his contemporaries. He had
effected, at a comparatively early period of life, what
they still hoped to accomplish. The mere functions
of his office of archbishop he had a pleasure in per-
forming ; and no man finds pleasure in complete
idleness. We desire to be free from work which we
are compelled to perform ; but self-imposed labour is
acceptable He was sometimes forced by circumstances
to come down from his shelf; but, until quite the
close of life, he was ever anxious, after engaging in a
controversy, which he contrived to make as short-lived
as possible, to retire from public life, and to resume
his not inglorious ease.

Although Warham was ready to protect the interests
of the prior and convent of Christ Church whenever
they were attacked, yet, like many of his predecessors,
he did not regard their vicinity as adding to the
pleasures of a residence at Canterbury ; and con-
sequently the palace of the metropolitan city never
became his chief place of abode. From the date of
his signature to the various documents which we still
possess, we find, that his favourite residence was at
Otford. On this manor he spent no less a sum than
thirty thousand pounds. He had here a spacious park,
well stocked with deer, and, although the delicate state
of his health prevented him from indulging in field
sports, yet he found pleasure in rural pursuits. As he
refreshed himself at the well of sweet waters, which
owed its origin to the discernment or the merits of
St. Thomas of Canterbury, and gazed upon the lovely

310 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, prospect over the park to the chalk lulls beyond, on
which the eye of Becket had often rested, he may

have contrasted the fiery temper of the saint contend-
3505-32. ing against the crown for every vestige of right per-
taining to the see. with the meek submissive temper
of the then possessor of the domain. In the transition
state of the Church neither St. Thomas on the one
side, nor ourselves on the other, may be able to under-
stand what could have been the sentiments of a primate
of the sixteenth century. Although they were con-
tending against evil from opposite quarters, we may
believe both to have been acting conscientiously ; and
we may pray that, in all ages of the Church, the
successors of those good men will contend, as the
exigencies of the Church may require, that the things
of God may be rendered to God, and the things of
Caesar to Caesar.

At the manor, of late years called the palace, of
Lambeth, the archbishop resided when duty required
his attendance at the court. It was at that time a
lovely residence — a rus in urle, although, in point of
fact, the city had not made much encroachment on the
southern side of the river. The green fields, in the
midst of which the manor-house stood, extended over
unbroken pastures, or pastures broken only by hedge-
rows, to the Surrey hills. From the windows of the
hall the eye rested on a continuous line of palaces
from Westminster to the Tower. The river was the
great street of London. With the gilded barges of the
nobility and the painted boats of the middle classes, a
gayer scene would be presented to the eye by none
of the great cities of Europe. As the archbishop
went out " at the even tide " to meditate like Isaac in
the fields or on his terraces redolent with flowers,
there came up, we are told, from the various boats

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. oil

as they passed, those sweet strains of music which, CHAi'.
resounding in our busiest thoroughfare, induced the — —
foreigner, when he returned to his native land, to speak -JJjjJJj™.
of " merry England" The cares, the labours, the 15.
filth, the wretchedness, the disease which abounded at
that time even more than now, were to be found in
the filthy, plague-stricken streets, which were visited
by those only who were compelled to traverse them
on account of business. The aristocratic and the gay
were on the river, the streets were to them what the
city is to us.

It was, however, so easy for the aristocrat or the
courtier to cause his boat to stop at the quay at Lam-
beth, or for the citizen to cross the river on business ; it
was so easy for the king to send over to Lambeth and
command the archbishop's attendance at Westminster,
even when there was no great pressure of business ;
that "\Varham was not a constant resident at this manor ;
but, even when he had to attend to public busi;
in London, he would often have his establishment
at Croydon, and come to Lambeth for a few hours in
the day.

His habits, as we have seen from the testimony of
mus, were unostentatious, and in his ordinary
dress and in the arrangements of his household he
affected simplicity. Erasmus, indeed, somewhere re-
marks, that the archbishop differed herein from the
other great men of the age, by giving to his friends,
however humble in life, a cordial shake of the hand.

But although he avoided all ostentation and parade
when he was entertaining the literary friends of
whom we have given a description, yet on great occa-
sions he exercised the rites of hospitality on a scale
of great magnitude. His tastes lay so much in that
direction, that we suspect it was the infirm state of his

312 LIVES OF THE

health which induced him to relegate, without a
remonstrance, the entertainment of princes to the

Warham. cardinal, whose love of splendour was almost puerile.

1503-32. Wolsey was not unwilling to entertain royalty at
Warham's expense. Sometimes he incurred the re-
monstrances, but never the disapprobation of the
archbishop, — not his disapprobation, for what he
did he had a right to do. Even to the end of
Elizabeth's reign, the sovereign did honour to a royal
visitor, and saved the public exchequer, by billeting
him, so to say, on one of the nobles of the land. It
was one of the taxes to which the aristocracy were
liable,

It was thus that the archbishop was called upon to
entertain the Emperor Charles V. on one of his visits
to England. With what splendour Warham could on
great occasions make his appearance we gather from
the record, which has been preserved, of his reception
of Cardinal Campeggio in the year 1518.

This mission of Campeggio was long antecedent to
his well-known attendance about what was called
" the king's business," or the divorce question. The
object of this his first embassy was to obtain from the
king a grant of money for the pope. Wolsey, aware
that the embassy would fail in its immediate object, was
extremely anxious to obtain for the legate an honour-
able reception, in order that he might, nevertheless,
secure his friendship at Eome. The king was quite
prepared to do what the cardinal desired, provided
he was not required to make the grant ; and he sent
Lord Abergavenny and other lords to wait upon the
legate on his landing in Dover. The Bishop of
Chichester represented the archbishop on this occasion ;
the archbishop himself, with his crossbearer, the
Bishop of Rochester, remaining at Canterbury ; at

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 313

which place the legate arrived next day, July 24th. CHAP.
The archbishop exhibited to the legate the splendid

shrine of St. Thomas, before which- the legate knelt,
and made an offering. The prior and monks, after 1503-32.
presenting to him the other relics to be kissed, gave
him a splendid entertainment in the hall of the con-
vent. There was no religious ceremonial. Campeggio
had come to England not as the representative of the
Bishop of Rome, but as the ambassador of the Sove-
reign of the Papal States. The archbishop met him
not with mitre, pall, and cope, but as the first among
the gentlemen of Kent, and a privy counsellor of the
king. The morning after Campeggio's arrival, War-
ham appeared at the head of a splendid cavalcade ;
a thousand horsemen, his tenants or retainers, in full
armour, and with gold chains around their necks.
They passed, banners raised, trumpets sounding,
through Sittingbourne, Bexley, and Rochester, to
Otford, where the hospitality of the primate was such
as to cause the admiration of his grateful guests.
The splendour exhibited by Warham on this occa-
sion was, however, as nothing when compared with
that which was displayed by Wolsey. Wolsey
knew, that a visit from a Roman cardinal was
unpopular with the clergy as well as with the
people, that the archbishop only did what the pro-
prieties of his office required, and that the king
merely yielded to the wishes of his favourite, and
condescended to enjoy the entertainments which Car-
dinal Wolsey provided at his own expense. Wolsey
was not to be thwarted ; the splendour of his enter-
tainments conciliated the king and the multitude who
participated in them, and astonished the foreigners ; for
this reception of Campeggio was, in point of magnifi-
cence, never surpassed. Although the embassy failed in

314 LIVES OF THE

« n.\r. obtaining a grant of money, it would Lave to report of
—v-^ the hearty goodwill of Cardinal Wolsey, of his bound-
lcss wealth, of hk favour with the king, and of his

1503-32. general popularity.

When the archbishop had recovered from the fatigues
of entertaining the legate, he went privately to Lam-
U-tli, that he might be in attendance upon the king
on the 3d of August. On that day, the king was
publicly to receive the legate. It was a civil transac-
tion, a political arrangement, and Warham was there
not as the Primate of All England, but as the first
personage in the House of Lords. He passed over to
the palace at Westminster, and there in the royal
dining chamber, with the lords spiritual and temporal,
together with all the great officers of state, he awaited
the arrival of the king. On the king's arrival, his
majesty took his place in the centre of the hall, the
archbishop and the other lords spiritual on his right
hand, the dukes and temporal peers on his left. The
anomaly was, that one of the representatives of a
foreign potentate was, on this occasion, the minister of
the King of England. Wolsey appeared with Campeg-
gio applying to the king and realm of England for
aid against the enemies of God. He asked in the
name of Leo X. what it had been agreed in the council
of Henry VIII. should not be granted. The leg;;
saluted the king, and the king graciously raised his
hat. He proceeded to the top of the hall, Cardinal
Wolsey on his right hand and Cardinal Canipeggio on i
his left, their pillars, crosses, and hats being carried |
before them. The sword of state was borne before jj
the king by the Earl of Surrey. The king ascended i
the throne. On the right, the primate and the lords \\
spiritual retained their places, and the lords temporal j
stood on the left. Fronting the throne were seen two 1

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 315

t hairs of state covered with cloth of gold. The larger CHAP.

of these chairs was designed to bear the great personal ^

weight of Cardinal Wolsey, who took the lead in this ^"Sl.
foreign mission to the court of England. Cap in hand, 1503-32.
he made a Latin oration to the king. The king received
it most graciously. Henry was always pleased with
an opportunity of displaying his personal advantages,
and his acquirements as a scholar. The king, standing
in front of the throne, returned an answer in the same
language, " most eloquently and with great gravity."

Campeggio's brother followed, and he stated more
in detail the objects of the mission — the desire of the
pope for the peace and unity of Christendom, and the
importance of a crusade against the common enemy,
the Turk.'" An answer was made by a member of the
government, dictated, we may presume, by the king
himself. The King of England needed not to be re-
minded of his duty as a Christian man.

The king and the legates then withdrew into the privy
chamber, and there they were closeted together for an
hour. There were not a few who felt indignation on
these occasions, when Wolsey, by the exclusion of
other counsellors, made it apparent to all that he
only had the ear of the king. A splendid banquet fol-
lowed.

The whole object was to proclaim to the foreigner
the power of Wolsey in the English court. We are

* Hall adds that they declared, as one of the causes of the legation,
a desire to effect a reformation of the clergy. It is possible that
such a subject might be mentioned dd captandum ; but it would
have so changed the character of the proceedings to have introduced
Church matters, that it is improbable. But the case seems settled
by the fact> that in the original documents there is no reference to
the subject. It was probably discussed in private, as we know it
had been an object with both "\Volsey and \Varham.

316 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, expressly told that no business was transacted, and
— J^_ that no respect was shown to the court of Rome.*

Towards the close of his life, Warham became a

1503-32. valetudinarian. So early as the year 1525, he was
advised by his physicians to abstain as much as possible
from public business, and to take up his abode at
.Knowle, as being a situation high and dry.

To this circumstance we have had occasion already
to allude. We will only remark here that the illness
continued till 1529, and was evidently the breaking-
up of his constitution. He made it an excuse for not
receiving Campeggio, when that legate again visited
England on " the king's business." He wrote to
Wolsey :

"Please it your good grace to understand that this, St.
Matthew's day, I received your grace's most honourable
letters, dated at Oking, the xviiith day of September, by
which I perceive it is the king's grace's pleasure and yours
that I should determine myself to receive the most reverend
Cardinal Campegius, legate de latere, at my church now
shortly, and the same to entertain in the best manner and
accompany to Eochester, &c.

" So it is, if it like your good grace, I was at Canterbury
lately, intending then to have continued thereabout the most
part of this winter, but I could not have my health iii days
together at the time of my abode there, whereby I was
forced for the safeguard of my health and life to return from
thence. And if I should now journey thither and hither
again, especially in the ending of this month of September
or in the beginning of October (in which times I am most
troubled with my old painful disease of my head), I assure
your grace, I think verily I should not escape without extreme
danger of my life. For albeit I keep myself now as precisely
as I can, yet I daily feel grief and betokening of the coming
of my sickness which I fear more than ever I did, and which

* Papers and Letters, Henry VIII. 4362, 4366, 4371.

AECHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY.

sir

was not wont fail me about this season. And I think that after
the shaking of my head in my horse-litter I should not be
able to do that thing that I should come for. And albeit I
would be right glad specially for the king's grace's pleasure
and commandment ; and for my duty to the See Apostolic,
and also for my own observance that I owe to the said most
reverend legate, to await on the same by the way from
Canterbury, yet in my opinion it were not most meet for me
to accompany the said most reverend legate, he riding on
horseback and I in my litter, for I am not able to ride iii
miles together on horseback. In consideration whereof I
beseech your grace that, as I have ever found you good and
favourable lord unto me, so it may please your grace to be
mediator for me to the king's highness, to hold me excused of
the said journey to Canterbury, my age, impotency, and
danger of life graciously considered. Assuring your grace
that if I thought I should be able to endure the said journey,
and be able to do the king's highness any acceptable service
by the same, I would ask no pardon thereof ; but do it with
as good will as ever I did thing, and as I have at all times
been ready when I have been commanded, and will be during
my life, as far as I shall be able, and I send unto your grace
at this time the steward of my house, who can inform your
grace of the truth concerning the premises, to whom I beseech
your grace to give your credence. At Otford, this present
St. Matthew's day."

\Ye will now attend Warham in his retirement ; and
we will group some occurrences, without reference to
their chronological order, in order that we may not
interrupt the narrative when we have to bring under
the reader's notice those first decisive steps towards the
Reformation, which render the last years of Warham's
primacy memorable and deeply interesting.

And here a question arises, which may take the
reader by surprise : Was \Varham a married man ?

In a private letter, written in 1518, by Erasmus to
Archbishop Warhain, he entreats the primate to inter-

CHAP.
IT.

William
Warham.

1503-32.

318 LIVES OF Tin;

dede in his behalf with Henry VIII, in order that he
might obtain from the king a small subsidy, of which
w£ham. ne greatly stood in need. He addressed the archbishop
1503-32. as his Mer;unas. In this letter he alludes to the
archbishop's " sweet wife and his most dear children."'*

Jortin cannot omit a reference to this letter, but ho
makes the remark, " here must be some error, for in the
same letter mention is made of the archbishop's wife
and children. Perhaps the letter should be inscribed
to Lord Mountjoy."

We may be inclined to think there is some mistake,
since we find no allusion by any other writer to the
wife and children of Warham, and no other allusion
by Erasmus himself. We may decide against his
marriage, but still it is possible, that Archbishop War-
ham may have had a wife and children. His suc-
cessor, Archbishop Cranmer, was certainly a married
man. A puritan writer would reply, that Cranmer
was a Protestant ; but antecedently to the reign of
Edward VI. a Protestant Cranmer certainly was not.
No one was more zealous than he in putting in
force, with unmitigated severity, the cruel laws
against the Protestants, as well as all other reputed
heretics.! His wife, throughout Henry's reign, was
kept in the background. Henry, at one time, knew
that he had what he called a "bed-fellow," but he
merely regarded Cranmer as he regarded Wolsey, as a
concubinary priest.

Only persons of very strict religious princi]

* " Bene vale cum dulcissima conjugali I'iberisque dulcissimis.'*
— Erasmi Opera, iii. 1695.

t I shall have occasion hereafter, in my life of Cranmer, to
remark on the extreme injustice done to that eminent man hy those
who represent him as a Protestant in disguise during the reign of
Henry.

AECHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 319

objected to the residence of a concubine in the house

of a clergyman : and when nephews were spoken of, it •—•<—•

i • 4.1. • * * William

was in a sarcastic tone implying the existence ot a
nearer relation. In either case, the lady was treated
with equal respect or disrespect ; she was generally
selected from the humbler classes of society ; her ques-
tionable position in society rendered the connexion
objectionable in the higher ranks of society. Never-
theless it was important, though it was a secret trans-
action, for the female admitted into a clergyman's family
to prove that the marriage ceremony had been per-
formed, for upon that circumstance depended the legiti-
macy of the children. The marriage was voidable, but-
void, and if the marriage were proved, the legitimacy
of the children was not disputed. At the same time.
a clergyman, though not bound, like a monk, by an
oath of celibacy, was regarded, on his marriage, as on<-
who had violated the canons of the Church or the
statutes of the land ; hence the marriage was gene-
rally clandestine, and rather admitted, in the presence
of friends, than openly avowed.

Allusion has been made to Skelton, the poet ; he
declared on his deathbed that his concubine was really
his wife, but that from prudential considerations hr>
had not owned her as such. Many there were who
were cravens in this respect like himself, but who, to
save their children from the brand of bastardy, made
their confession at last.

Under these considerations, as I have said, w»-
abstain from a hasty conclusion with respect to War-
ham, and cannot assume, as Jortin does, that the letter
published in the works of Erasmus, as addressed to
Archbishop Wai ham, was, beyond all doubt, intended
for some other person. On the contrary, we have
internal evidence to produce which, though not such

320 LIVES OF THE

as completely to establish the authenticity of the letter,
will have some weight with some classes of mind.
Warham. Erasmus takes occasion to inform his correspondent
1503-32 that he was in want of a horse, — an acquisition of
great importance when journeys were for the most
part made on horseback. He says, " Equo commodo est
mihi opus, sed tu soles in re equestri parum esse
felix, adjuta, tamen, si quid potes." There is a little
sarcastic pleasantry here, which is just in the style of
Erasmus. He would not have written thus to every-
body, but he alludes to a transaction, which had
already taken place between his correspondent and
himself. We are reminded of one of the most amusing
letters of Erasmus, in which he says to the archbishop :
" I have received a horse from you, not handsome, but
a good creature, for he is free from all the mortal sins
except gluttony and incorrigible laziness. He has all
the virtues of a holy father confessor, being pious,
prudent, humble, modest, sober, chaste, and quiet ; he
neither bites nor kicks. I suspect that by the knavery
or mistake of some of your domestics, another horse
has been sent me in the stead of what you intended. I
have given no directions to my groom, only if by
chance any one will give a handsomer horse and a
good one he may change the saddle and bridle." *

We would not force the expressions of a well-bred
man like Erasmus to an extreme. But it would seem
that, when writing to the archbishop, he mentioned a
lady who, on his visits to his grace, had received
him with courtesy, and who had done the honours of
the house, without knowing or caring whether the
religious ceremony had been performed, he spoke
of her in the terms whhh he regarded as likely to be
most acceptable to her.

* Erasmi Opera, ii. 814 ; Ep. 697.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 321

was himself a concubinary priest, and to
the appearance of a lady presiding over the house-
hold in one of "Warham's manors, he would have
nothing to object ; but if Wolsey had discovered, that 15C3-32.
in an hour of weakness Warham had yielded to the
wishes of the lady and his children, and had become
clandestinely a married man, we discover another
ground for the despotic influence which Wolsey cer-
tainly exercised over the mind of Warham. We have
alluded before to a proclamation by the king against
the marriage of the clergy, and we have observed the
very moderate terms in which the proclamation was
worded. This proclamation was issued when Wolsey
ruled without a rival in the court and over the mind
of Henry VIII. The proclamation may have been
intended as a hint to Warham, that he was in the
power of the minister ; and when what was done ter-
minated only in, what we can hardly call a threat, but
only a hint, we can assign a reason for the expressions
of gratitude which appear sometimes in the letters of
the primate, and for which we are unable otherwise to
account. What would have happened, had Henry been
told that his primate was a married man, it is impos-
sible to surmise ; for the actions of Henry depended
frequently upon the caprice of the moment. Until
quite the close of Warham's career, Henry was devoted
to the pope, and felt himself called, as Defender of the
Faith, to uphold the discipline of the Church. He
would have treated as a good joke the discovery, that
the primate had a concubine dwelling in his house ;
but he would have resented an infraction of the laws
both of Church and State such as his marriage would
have implied.

To the majority of my readers the arguments in favour
of "\\ arham's marriage will appear insufficient. It was

VOL. VI. Y

322 LIVES OF THE

proper, however, that I should notice the case ; and I
repeat that, if there existed a secret which placed War-
wlrham. ^am *n *ne Power of Wolsey, we can then understand
1503-32. the unresisting submission of Warham to the insults of
Wolsey, for which we have found it so difficult to
account. But, whether a lady presided over the esta-
blishment or not, Warham's house was the resort of
the learned, and especially of the reforming divines ;
his guests were placed at their ease, and among
Warham's guests none was ever more welcome than
Erasmus.

It was not, however, till his third visit to England,
that the intimacy commenced, which lasted through
life, between Archbishop Warham and Erasmus. Of
their first interview Erasmus has himself left an
amusing description.

The archbishop had signified to Grocyn his readi-
ness to receive, at Lambeth, the distinguished scholar
who made his boast that the foundation of his Greek
studies had been laid at the university of which War-
ham was the chancellor.

There still lingers among us a custom prevalent in
the sixteenth century. When a physician calls upon
us, and we have received his advice, we present him
at parting with an honorarium. A similar treatment
was expected by a scholar when calling on a Mecsenas
in the sixteenth century. The scholar would present
his patron with some work, and attach to it a suitable
dedication, and on his departure he expected his fee.
This system of patronage continued, with some modi-
fications, to the middle of the eighteenth century. An
author was paid for a dedication.

On the occasion before us, Archbishop Warham
received Erasmus with his usual affability and kind-
ness. They conversed together. Erasmus was invited to

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 323

dinner, and after dinner the conversation was renewed. CHAP.
Nothing could be more agreeable than the meeting.

& O CJ

Erasmus, at parting, placed in the hands of the arch- ^™JJ^
bishop a copy of his version of the " Hecuba " with 1503-32.
a dedication. At the same time, Warham was evi-
dently determined to give a salutary hint to his friend.
He was aware, that this version of the " Hecuba " had
already done similar sendee when Erasmus paid his
respects, in the course of his travels, at other courts.

The translation was merely an exercise which
Erasmus had performed when, studying Greek in
the University of Louvain. This he had transcribed :
and, carrying copies with him, when he called upon
a great man, he presented a copy to him, with a suit-
able dedication, and received his fee, A very small
fee, however, the archbishop placed in his hand on
this occasion.

When the two friends left the manor-house of
Lambeth and took boat, Grocyn, delighted with the
reception his companion had met with, asked, in a
whisper, what the fee was which the archbishop had
given, expecting a large sum to be named. The fee
was so ridiculously small, that the two friends, when
Erasmus named it, burst into a roar of laughter. Pre-
sently the great scholar asked whether the archbishop
regarded the book as worthless, or whether the small-
ness of the fee was to be traced to the penuriousness of
Warham. Grocyn was provoked at the latter insinua-
tion, and mentioned to Erasmus the comments which
had been made on the easy manner in which he
accustomed to abstract money from the pockets
of his patrons. There was always something of the
spirit of Grub Street mixed up with the genius of
Erasmus. He was, however, a perfect gentleman. Soon
after he let the archbishop understand that the rebuke,

Y -2

324 LIVES OF THK

CHAP, justly incurred, had been well received, by adding to a
. ^ translation of the " Iphigenia," that of "Hecuba," and by

Warham sending both, with a new dedication, to the archbishop.

1503-32. Never again had Erasmus to complain of want of
generosity on the part of Warham. Although he
thought it right to show, that he was not to be im-
posed upon, Warham continued, through life, to heap
favours on, the grateful Erasmus. He gave him not
less than 550 nobles, and, by offering him a living,
endeavoured to secure his residence in England. He
collated Erasmus to Aldington, near Ashford, on the
22d of March, 1511. Erasmus, when he found that
he was expected to reside, resigned the living on the
plea that he could not speak English. This was a
sentiment in advance of the age ; and Warham. could
not see the force of his friend's reasoning. We have
so frequently adverted to the prevalent feeling, that
so long as the parish was well served, it was no con-
cern of the parishioners whether the money was paid
to the absentee rector, a portion of it being deducted
for the support of his deputy, or whether the rector
were to discharge the duties in person, and possibly
not so well. The feeling of the age was against non-
residence and pluralities; but the reason was, that the
people desired that the money drawn from the locality
should be spent among themselves ; and, so far as
Erasmus was concerned, on the present occasion, we
cannot attribute to him the higher motive for his
conduct. His clear intellect saw the force of the
argument against non-residence, and adduced it as the
pretext for his refusing the living when he found that
the archbishop offered it to him with the express
object of providing him with a comfortable home in
this country, where, if it was not a distinct stipula-
tion, he would be expected to reside-

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY.

A roving life was more to the taste of Erasmus, and
to a ci-rtain extent, it was, in his case, a necessity. A
ar was obliged to change his residence frequently ;
n«>w for the purpose of consulting libraries ; at another 1503-3-2.
time to be in the vicinity of one of the few printing
hen in existence. Erasmus offered no objec-
tion, when the archbishop resorted to a measure equally
objectionable in point of principle to that which he
had previously proposed, and against which the par-
liament soon after petitioned. "\Vhen the new incum-
bent was nominated to Aldington, the living was
saddled with a pension to Erasmus, who, though he
declined the responsibilities, accepted the income.

It is impossible to read the works of Erasmus with-
out being attached to the man, though, in money
matters, he was not very particular. But he was not
entirely without a sense of moderation and mod*
for, on one occasion, he said that he had receiver
much from Archbishop "\Varhani that it were scan-
dalous to take more of him, even if he should offer it.*

"\Varham argued that pastors ought to contribute
to the support of one who was the instructor of
pastors. By a scholar providing food of thought
for scholars, the expenses incurred were many and
great : he had to consult manuscripts, to employ
transcribers, to keep his horses for travelling; and
of the profit arising from the sale of his works it
was considered beneath his dignity to share. It
would be a degradation for the scholar to sink into

* Ep. 150. But this sentence is qualified by what ensues ; he
: " Even our friend Linaere thinks me too bold, and though he
knows my state of health, and that I am going to London with
hardly six angels in my pocket, exhorted me most pressingly to
spare the archbishop and Lord Mountjcy, and advised me to
retrench, and learn to bear poverty with patie:

3 20 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, the tradesman. The printer undertook the expenses

_J_ of publication, and, although the sale of the works

Warinm °^ Erasmus was large and rapid, the expenses of

1503-32. printing were at this time so great, that the profits

were not likely to be considerable.

Archbishop Warham did not himself shrink from
sharing the burden by which an income was to be
provided for Erasmus. He saddled the living of
Aldington with an annual payment of 201. and to
this sum he added 201. from his own purse. Erasmus
was thus endowed from England alone with an income
equivalent, at the present calculation, to 400/. a year.
When we find him continually asking for help, we
must suppose that there was mismanagement some-
where, and that, while the expenses were great, the
scholar was not economical.

Attached though he was to England, yet Erasmus
openly declared, that he would not sacrifice his liberty
for any amount of income : and in this declaration
we discover the real grounds of his refusal.

The praise of England was frequently in the mouth
of Erasmus. In his third visit, when he was between
thirty and forty years of age, we find him on one
occasion laughing at himself, for, like other humourists,
he found amusement occasionally in making himself
his own butt, though he would have resented the
liberty had it been taken by any one else. Writing to
one who knew the unaccountable habits of the scholar,
he represents himself as having become a perfect horse-
man, though from other portions of his works we
may discover that he had no little difficulty in keeping
his seat on horseback ; he had almost become a hunter,
he was a tolerable courtier, and could actually make
his bow in a courtier-like style ; he hinted that he
was almost inclined to marry, and the ladies in

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 327

England, he said, had a delightful custom of greeting CHAP.

Q strangers with an innocent but pleasant salute.* — —
He praises everything, even the climate, which he wiham.
found most agreeable and most healthful. " I have 1503-32.
found,'' he says, " so much civility (humanitag) so much
learning, and that not trite and trivial, but profound
and accurate, so much familiarity with the ancient-
writers, Latin and Greek, that, except for the sake
of seeing it, I hardly desire to visit Italy."

His happiness it was to visit the archbishop, who,
he says, "' treats me as if he were my father, or my
brother." He speaks of the archbishop's learning, his
piety, his earnest desire to discharge the high func-
tions of his office, and to sustain the cause of lite-
rature. " Of those who are kind to me," he exclaims
in a letter to the Abbot of St. Bertin —

'• I place in the first place "Warham, archbishop of Canter-
bury. "What genius ! what copiousness ! what vivacity ! what
facility in the most complicated discussions ! what erudition !
what politeness ! From "Warham, none ever parted in sorrow.
This conduct would do honour to a monarch ! "With all these
qualities, how great is AVarham's humility ! how edifying his
modesty ! He alone is ignorant of his eminence ; no one is
more faithful or more constant in friendship." t

After the archbishop's death, Erasmus thus wrote
of him to one of his correspondent- :

'• How fully soever "Warham might be occupied with the

* This passage, as Dean Milman, in the Quarterly Review, observes,
has given rise to much solemn nonsense. The \vhole passage is com-
posed in that easy Latin, which could only have been accomplished
by one \vbo was accustomed to think in that language.

t Perhaps tbe eulosrv of Erasmus, if exaggerated by friendship
and gratitude, will be still more in favour of Warham than the
sneers at his weakness in whicb some modern writers, from party
motives, indulge.

328

LIVES OF THE

CHAP.

II.

"William
"VVarham.

1503-32.

concerns of the kingdom, they never trespassed upon his
axchiepiscopal duties. He might even be thought to be en-
grossed by these : he found time almost every day to say
mass ; to give audiences ; to receive ambassadors ; to attend
the royal councils ; to visit some parts of his diocese, and even
to read. Conversation with the learned and literary occu-
pations were his only recreations. Sometimes two hundred
persons dined at his table ; it was frequented by bishops,
dukes, and lords ; it never took more than an hour of his
time ; he drank no wine, he was very cheerful ; he never
supped ; but if some of his intimate friends (and he admitted
me among them) remained with him till that hour, he sat
down to table with them, eating nothing or scarcely anything
himself. He was fond of wit, and occasionally witty, but his
wit had no bitterness. He left behind him no more money
than was necessary to pay his debts."

AVe have already alluded to the inclinations of
Warham to the cause of reform. He was a deeply
religious man, more inclined to mysticism than to
scholasticism. His religion was more tinctured with
superstition than that of Erasmus ; but still we may
gather from Erasmus what the sentiments of the
archbishop generally were. Erasmus dedicated to
"Warham his edition of St. Jerome ; and in the dedi-
catory epistle, Erasmus was too much of a courtier to
commit the archbishop to opinions and sentiments
which he was not careful to avow. He complained
of the little care which had been taken to preserve the
patristic manuscripts ; and he compares this with the
lavish expense which had been sometimes incurred on
works worse than useless.* He did not despise the
simple and well-meant piety of the vulgar ; but his

* Jortin, i. 78. The dedication to Warham and the Life of St.
Jerome are not inserted among the works of Erasmus ; but they
are given by Jortin. Jortin and Knight, in their text or in the
Appendices, have gathered together all that pertains to English
history from the deeply interesting and important letters of Erasm UP.

Ar.'UBI- F CANTEBBUKY.

\vas great at the perverse judgment of a
multitude who ought to have known better. " \Ve

William
Warhaiu.

1503-32.

;- The old shoes and dirty handkerchiefs of the saints ;
and we neglect their books, we abandon to mouldiness and
vermin the works which of all their relics are most holy
and valuable, on which they bestowed much pains, and
which still exist for our benefit. It is not difficult," he con-
tinues, " to discover the causes of this conduct. As soon as the
manners of princes degenerated into brutish tyranny, and the
bishops were intent upon acquiring profane dominion and
wealth, instead of teaching the people their duty, the whole
val care fell to the share of those who are called friars,
or brethren, and religious men ; as if brotherly love, Christian
charity, and true religion belonged only to them ! Then polite
literature began to be neglected, the knowledge of the Greek
tongue was much despised, the knowledge of Hebrew still
more. The study of eloquence was thrown aside. The Latin
tongue, by a new accession of barbarisms, was so corrupted
that it could hardly be called a language. History and
antiquities were disregarded. Learning consisted in certain
sophistical quibbles and subtleties, and all science was to be
fetched from the collectors of sums, that is, of commonplaces
of philosophy and divinity. These compilers were always
dogmatical and impudent in proportion to their ignorance ;
were glad to have ancient authors disregarded, or, which
is very probable, they gave a helping hand to destroy those
books, which if they had ever read it was to no purpose,
because they were not capable of understanding them."*

~V\ arhani agreed with Erasmus in thinkino-, that a

o O

reformation could only be effected by rendering the
leading men of the day good Biblical scholars ; and,
a.s the lower class of mind is influenced by the higher,
the people would soon be eager to receive that Scrip-
Erasmus, Roberto Piscatori, Ep. xiv. and the various
excerpts from Erasmus in the Appendix to Jortin. To the
panegyrics on Warham additions might be easily made.

330 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, tural instruction by which alone the existing abuses

^^_ in practice and doctrine could be rectified. To Erasmus,

Warham. therefore, Warliam extended both his assistance and

1503-32. his patronage, when the former prepared first his Greek

Testament and then his Latin translation for the ]>

It is observed by Professor Brewer that, although
the New Testament was printed at Basle, where only
a sufficient supply of type used by the band of men
of learning there congregated, could be found ; yet in
the preparation of this great work English scholars
were employed. They assisted in collating the MSS.
while English prelates, let it be observed, supplied
them with the funds for carrying on the work. He
took up his abode at Cambridge, for there Bishop
Fisher appointed him Lady Margaret's Professor of
Pivinity. Gratefully, enthusiastically, as we have seen,
does Erasmus acknowledge his obligations to Warham.
Having descanted on the modesty, the labours, the
genius of the archbishop, and having dwelt on the
generous patronage he extended to learned men, Eras-
mus continues :

" Had it been my good fortune to have fallen in with such
a Mecsenas, as the archbishop, in my earlier years, I might
have done something for literature. Xow born as I was in
an unhappy age, when barbarism reigned supreme, especially
among my own people, by whom the least inclination for
literature was then looked upon as little better than a crime,
what could I do with my small modicum of talent ? Death
carried off Henry de Berghes, bishop of Cambray, my first
patron ; my second, William, Lord Mount] oy, an English peer,
%vas separated from me by his employments at court and the
tumults of war. By his means it was my good fortune, then
advanced in life, and close upon my fortieth year, to be intro-
duced to Archbishop YVarham. Encouraged and cheered by
his bounty I revived, I gained new youth and strength in the
cause of literature. AY hat nature and my country denied
his bounty supplied."

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 331

It is the more important to notice this, because it is
customary to misrepresent the state of learning in this
country at the period just preceding the Reformation.
The way was prepared for the reformers by the 150.3-32.
struggles after improvement made by men whom it is
customary only to revile. If we say that among the
bishops there was only a minority of learned men we
shall only say what may be said of them in almost
every age. Learned men are not always practical
men ; and men engaged in their studies, especially if
they are plain-spoken, honest men, are not likely to
make friends among courtiers ; but Erasmus expressly
states to Dorpius that he laid his Annotations on the
Vulgate before divines and bishops of integrity and
learning. We draw too large an inference from the
angry, sarcastic, and witty remarks made by Erasmus
on the divines of the age, if we presume that all were
dishonest or fools who went not the full length of the
Protestant Reformation. Erasmus mentions with grati-
tude not only those large sums of money with which
in addition to his salary Warham from time to time
relieved his wants, he alludes also to grants made to
him by other prela:

It is sometimes assumed that a mediaeval archbishop
must have been a man void of wit and humour. We
read in modern histories, that if such a person ven-
tures on a joke it is what is called l< a grim joke/'
Erasmus, however, particularly dwells on the facetious-
of Warham, through which he was wont to place
himself on a footing with his guests, while by his
manner he showed that no one was to take a liberty
with him or with any of his companions. The jokes
of the age were coarse, and we may give the follow-
ing letter as a specimen : —

•• To ERASMUS. — If it be the usual form to commence a letter

:i:V2 LIVES OF THE

by wishing health to the healthy, much more fitting is it that
I should do so when writing to the sick. Although I augur
William that, since the Feast of the Purgation of Mary is now past,
you have been purged of your stones, let me ask what right

Io03— 32. , ,". -IT/I -r-r i •

have those stones to a place in your body ? I pon this rock
what would you build ? I cannot suppose that you think of
erecting a noble house or anything of that kind. And so,
since you cannot have any possible occasion for stones, get rid
of them as soon as you can, and pay any money to carry
them off. I indeed will purchase them, and, to sav-
trouble and expense, I have sent you by the son of my London
goldsmith thirty nobles, which I require you to charge with
ten legions. Gold is a medicine of considerable efficacy.
Apply it to the recovery of your health, which I should be
glad to purchase at a greater rate. For I know you have
many excellent works to publish which cannot be done with-
out health and strength. Take care, therefore, to get well ;
and do not any longer defraud us, by your longer sickness, of
the hopes and fruits of your labours. From London, 5th of
February."*

The conduct of "Warham with respect to the trans-
lation of Scripture into the vernacular, notwithstanding
the explanations already given, is perplexing. He
cordially supported Erasmus in his new edition of the
New Testament in his Latin version, and in all that
related to the circulation of the New Testament. Yet
he is known to have taken measures to suppress
TyndaFs noble translation of the Bible into the ver-
nacular ; that translation which was itself a revision,
and which, still further revised, is the basis of the
authorized version.

V\~e must briefly revert to the subject with a view
of seeing how it presented itself to his mind. The
ground on which he supported Erasmus's translation
was that the Vulgate was itself a translation, and that

* Erasm. F.p. cxxxiv.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 333

Erasmus's work was an appeal from a version to the CHAP.

original. Tyndal's translation was only a " doing into ._

English" of the Septuagint and the Vulgate. The ™i&m

r Warhani.

argument, if it had been true, is weak ; but it would 1503-3-2.
suffice to a man looking out for a pretext for with-
holding his sanction from what would appear to be a
legitimate inference from premisses supplied by himself.

But why did he object to the free circulation of
the translated Bible 1 This is the question, the answer
of which must be continually kept before the mind,
if we would do justice to all parties.

A demand for a version of the Bible in the vulgar

tongue was a party cry, — the cry not merely of the
religious reformers, such as Cranmer arid others of his
school ; but still more loudly of the political reformers,
the men of Crumwell's school. The cry for a reforma-
tion resounded from one end of Europe to the other,
from Italy especially, for in Italy the corruptions were
most glaring. What steps were to be taken ? Western
Europe gave the answer. There is one book which
all agree to be the work of men under the guidance of
the Holy Spirit, and the enunciations of which we all
agree to be infallible. " To the law and the testi-
mony : " when the Church speaks not according to this
it must be in error. This was admitted by reformers
of the Erasmian school. But the reformation, they
contended, must be carried on gradually by persons in
authority. " We will give to them an improved
edition of the Bible, in the Latin language, the lan-
guage of all literary men, and we must abide by their
decision/' "Let Colet," said Warham, "denounce the
corruptions of the clergy; let Erasmus translate the
New Testament into Latin, and supply us with para-
phrases, and by degrees we shall discover and acknow-
ledge your faults and supply a reined}'."

334 LIVES OF THE

The political reformers raised what may be called the
radical cry of the age, a demand for an English Bible.
Wai-ham Place the Bible in every man's hand, and every man
1503-32. will be competent to reform the Church. Warham and
men of that class knew how violently opposed were
many to authorized or least tolerated practices of the
age, especially those which bore upon their purses.
Such persons were only asking for a pretext to justify
their insubordination, and Warham knew that if their
passions were inflamed, the lives and the property of
the clergy would be at the disposal of the dema-
gogues of the day. This at least was the fear of the
great conservative party of the time, and they were
soon able, by pointing to the excesses committed in
Germany, to show that their timidity was not to be
despised. When men's lives and properties are in
danger, they are not particular about their logic.

A large number of the religious reformers, of whom
I take Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer as types long
before they assented to the leading dogma of Protes-
tantism, were found abetting the political reformers,
not from sympathy with them in their insubordination,
but from the conviction that the fears of the Erasmians
were not worthy of consideration. They were men of
faith, and said, " Do what is right, leave events to God ;
maintain the truth, and though the consequences may
be at first unpleasant, yet the truth will have the
Almighty for its defender. The Church is corrupt : we
do not deny it. How far it is corrupt let the people
see. When people see how unscriptural the Church
has become, they will secure at once the reformation
which it is folly to postpone." The feeling on both
sides is intelligible, if we consider it impartially. On
both sides there was much that was right, and some-
thing which was wrong. Our estimate of the right

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 335

and the wrong will depend to a certain extent on our CHAP.

own temperaments, or the principles in which we have ..!

been trained. The politician, looking only to worldly -^a1^™
results, was naturally vacillating. It was the interest 1503-32.
of Henry VIII. sometimes to court the one party and
sometimes the other. He knew that the party of
the religious reformers were always ready to abet him
when his patronage was extended to an English Bible ;
but that their tempers were sufficiently Erastian to
induce them to remain quiescent when the Govern-
ment decided on a particular course of action. We
shall hereafter see him effecting that kind of compro-
mise in which he delighted, by persuading the one
party to accept the Bible, and the other to permit it
to be read under certain restrictions.

Whenever Henry desired to intimidate the clergy, he
threatened them with an authorized version of Scripture.
Conscious as they were of the inconsistency of much
which was done and preached with the teaching of
the Bible, they were ready to submit to the dictates
of their master. Whenever he would win their favour,
he proscribed the English Scriptures, The course he
pursued towards the close of Warham's career is to be
attributed rather to the vacillations of the archbishop,
who was then approaching his end, than to a variety
in the policy of the king, in which however a change
soon after, under the influence of Cromwell and
Cranmer, took place.

When the question of the divorce comes under
consideration we shall find the king exasperated at the
unwillingness of the clergy to support him in the
matter. He felt, however, that he had gone unwar-
rantably far in placing them under the penalties of
praemunire for conduct of which he himself was guilty ;
he felt some remorse for his treatment of Wolsey;

336 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, he was aroused to the impolicy of exasperating the

__ clergy beyond endurance ; he was aware, that it was

Wai-ham whispered that the opponent of Luther was himself

1503-32. beginning to Lutheranize ; and he determined to

deprive the clergy of the power with which such a

notion, if it became prevalent, would invest them.

These observations are offered to enable us to account
for an extraordinary document * which we find in
Warham's Register, under the date of the 24th of May,
1530. It is a very able document, whether drawn up
by Warhem himself, or by some one employed under
his direction. Judging by what we know to have
been a common practice with Henry VIII, we may
presume, that it was corrected by the royal hand ; it
was certainly drawn up by the king's command. To
do justice to the author, whoever he was, we must not
forget, that the real object with those who drew it
up and caused it to be published was, a justification,
in spite of all that had occurred, — the assertion of the
royal authority and the rejection of the Pope of Rome
by the convocations of the Church of England, — of
those who refused to meet the rising clamour for an
authorized version of the Scriptures.

Convocation had asserted the royal supremacy ;
parliament had not yet followed its example. The
country was divided, perplexed, alarmed. The laity
were prepared to attack the clergy, but not to touch
the Church.

A royal commission was appointed. The Archbishop
of Canterbury was chairman. The commission was
to report on certain books which, to the horror of
some of the laity eminent for their bigotry, were said
to be replete with heresy, and were, it was affirmed,

* It has been printed by Wilkins, iii. 728. '

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 337

surreptitiously though widely circulated. The com-
mission as-embled at Lambeth, at the close of the year
1529, and they were required to make their report
before the following May. 1503-32.

This report contained a long list of errors and
heresies which abounded in the books complained of.
It is, and was probably intended to be, a mere party
document. A catena of errors is presented to us;
this course is frequently uncharitable and unfair,
since from the statements made, inferences are de-
duced as indisputable, which they to whom the heresy
is imputed would have been among the first to
dispute. There can be no doubt that Luther's great
doctrine of justification by faith only did alarm some
of his contemporaries, and might be used to alarm
others wli(:> saw not his object in asserting it. He
red the doctrine to show that man, to the last
hour of his life, was a sinner pardoned through the
merits of the Saviour imputed to him in his accept-
ance of the Lord Jesus as his sole Redeemer. This
overthrew at once the dogma of supererogatory merits,
saint-worship, indulgences, purgatory, almost the
whole fabric of the papacy. But we can easily under-
stand how the commissioners may have been really
alarmed, when books were circulated in which men
were warned " to beware of good works, because
they were not of God." It is to be remarked, that it
was against good works, not bad works, that Luther
was supposed to preach, since a reference to their
good works induced men to rely for justification, not
on the sole merits of our Lord, but upon what was
done by themselves, or by others for them. Men
of learning were roused to indignation when they
were told, not merely that the university system re-
quired an alteration, but that " whosoever he was who

VOL. VI. Z

338 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, ordained an university, he was a star that fell from

— ^ heaven, for he taught moral virtues for faith, and

Warham. opinions for truth," whence it was said " univer-

1503-32. sities are the infernal cloud, and open the gate to

hell/'

In the nineteenth century, there are many who
would condemn our ancestors for their commissions
and reports, but still we must admit that they had
ground for some alarm, though it may have been
carried too far. Certainly too far they went, when,
because opinions, apparently hostile to good works,
were held by that good man, William Tyndal, it
was assumed, that his sole object in translating the
Scriptures was to gain circulation for these tenets,
and to further the cause of insubordination in the
Church and of rebellion against the Government. It
had been said, in justification of Tyndal, that the king
had himself promised to authorize a translation of the
Bible. This promise was one of those convenient
falsehoods by which public men sometimes meet a
public clamour. Wiclif's Bible was prohibited, be-
cause it was said to be filled with errors ; the king
had promised a version to be made by learned men,
which should be a correct representation of the original.
The principle on which Tyndal acted had therefore
been conceded, and it was demanded either that
Tyndal's version should be authorized or the king's
promise redeemed. The only answer to this reason-
able demand was, that when such dreadful here-
sies, as that, for instance, which made good works,
damnable, were deduced from Scripture by wilful men,
resorting to Scripture for political purposes, the time
had not come when the king could be advised to
publish a translation of the Bible, such as the Church
might approve. In short, the king did not withdraw

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 339

his promise, but followed the advice formerly given by ' CHAP.
Wolsey : he delayed. , ,,1^

•/ ^

When the report was to be presented, the king made -JJ2JJJ
the proceeding his own, by receiving it under circum- 1503-32.
stances of peculiar solemnity. On the 24th of May,
1530, the commissioners met at Lambeth. With the
archbishop at their head, they proceeded to West-
minster. Here they were ushered into the old chapel,
or the chapel of St. Edward, on the west side of the
parliament chamber. They found the king on his
throne, or chair of estate. The report was read, and,
from a report to the king, it was issued under an
alteration of form, as a royal proclamation. In the
royal proclamation, now first read, the titles are given
of the several books concerned. The proclamation
concludes thus : " The king, our sovereign lord, of his
most virtuous and gracious disposition, considering that
this noble realm of England hath of long time con-
tinued in the true catholic faith of Christ's religion, and
that his noble progenitors, kings of this his said realm,
have before this time made and enacted many devout
laws, statutes, and ordinances for the maintenance and
defence of the same faith against malicious sects of
heretics and Lollards, who, by perversion of Scripture,
do induce erroneous opinion, sow sedition among
Christian people, and fondly disturb the peace and tran-
quillity of Christian realms, as lately happened in some
parts of Germany ; his highness, like a most gracious
prince, of his blessed and virtuous disposition, willeth
now to put in execution all good laws, statutes, and
ordinances ordained by his most noble progenitors,
kings of England, for the protection of religion." He
proceeds to call upon all his lords spiritual and tem-
poral, and upon all who hold office civil or ecclesias-
tical, as they would avoid his high indignation and

z 2

340 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, displeasure, that they assist him in suppressing publi-

^^^ cations and in silencing preachers who teach anything

Warham. contrary to the determination of the Catholic faith

1503-32. and the definitions of Holy Church. He requires them

to assist the ordinaries in measures to be adopted for

carrying the laws into effect, and for preventing the

importation of foreign books.

This proclamation, an act of the royal supremacy,
was published a year before the king's assertion of that
title, which took the country by surprise. We are
often offended by a name, when the name is only an
expression of an admitted fact.

The report, or whatever we may call the instrument
which was executed before the king at Westminster,
and witnessed by the notaries public, was also
published. It is a confused paper, in which Warham
comes forward, as Primate of All England, to commend
it to the attention and observance of all members of
the Church. He resumes his proper position as the
head of the English Church. The authority of Wolsey
was no longer recognised ; the primate speaks without
reference to the cardinal, and we trace in the docu-
ment something of the garrulity of old age.

It was probably on account of this proclamation,
and a mandate to the same purpose addressed not
long before to his suffragans, that Fuller complains of
Warham's exhibiting a persecuting spirit towards the
close of his life.

There was no enthusiasm or zeal in Warham's con-
stitution, and he simply did what by circumstances
he was required to do. We may refer his acceptance
of the office of papal collector, in the matter of indul-
gences, to a similar desire on his part of leading a
quiet life. "We must not, however, judge of his con-
duct by the feelings excited in our own minds, when

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 341

mention is made of the papal system of indulgences. CHAP.
It was well known that recourse was had to the __^_-
sale of indulgences merely because the papal treasury ^JJj
was exhausted, and this was regarded as a legitimate 1503-32.
means of raising money. Application had been made,
as we have before mentioned, to the convocation of
England to grant a subsidy to Leo X. for the prosecu-
tion of a war with the Turks. Considerable pressure
had been made upon \Yarham to induce him to
constrain the clergy to make the grant, and to use his
influence with the king, to consent to the proceeding.
The archbishop did not refuse to submit the papal
requisition to his clergy, and the brief was laid before
convocation.* But without comment he communicated
the refusal of his clergy. He reminded the papal
authorities of the generosity of the English clergy to
Julius JI, and exposed the insincerity of the pope
by reminding him that the victories of Henry VIII.
over the French had removed all dangers from the
Holy See.

The demand for this subsidy had been opposed by
a very large minority in the college of cardinals. But
the proposal for a sale of indulgences, on a larger
scale than heretofore, was well received.

Leo X. was in want of money. He might call
upon all Europe to contribute towards the rebuilding
of St. Peter's Church. As regards the pious, an
apprul was made to the religious sentiment : was it
becoming that the bones of those martyrs whose relics
were revered by all Christendom, should, as was the
in the present ruined edifice, be exposed to the
elements 1 An appeal was also made to the charitable.

* Papers and Letters of Henry VIII. Xo. 1312. In No. 3160,
we find the oath taken by Silvester Darius, as papal collector ; but
in No. 3688 he is spoken of as sub-collector.

342 LIVES OF THE

CHAP. A belief in purgatory prevailed, and was at the root
of almost all the worst superstitions of the age. To

~\\T "11*

Warham. be relieved from the pains of purgatory, the rich would
1503-32. bequeath large sums of money, that masses might be
said for their souls, and payment would be made to
obtain, for the departed members of a family, an
early release from the penalties they had incurred by
sins which, though venial, had been many and great.
This wras the origin of chantries. But now, for a
comparatively small sum of money, the poorest might
be placed upon a spiritual equality Avith the rich.* The
statesman was exonerated by this from the necessity
of imposing a tax, when the money he might other-
wise have to raise was voluntarily proffered. These
sophistries were but as the spider's web, when the
hand of the noble Luther was raised against them.
But Henry VIII. was the opponent of Luther, and he
would have been a bold man who should in England
have given weight to Luther's arguments. Against the
chance of opposition, in England, to the sale of indul-
gences, Leo X. had taken due precaution. A fourth
of the money, if not a third, arising from the sale of
indulgences, represented as an act of mercy as well
as of piety, was granted to Henry VIII. f We are
expressly told that to this iniquitous delusion, not
now invented for the first time, but for the first time
conducted on this gigantic scale, the universities were
opposed, and, among the opponents, were the parochial

* In France, a contemporary writer states that whoever shall put
ten sous Tournois into the money-box would go to Paradise, for ten
sous a-piece all sins were forgiven, and souls would escape from
purgatory. — Brewer, Pref. ii. ccv.

t The kings of France and Spain were equally enriched, so was
the Elector of Mentz, Eeformer though he was. — See Eanke's
Keforrnation, 831, where the whole history is given.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 343

clergy. Erasmus denounced the iniquitous system ; CHAP.
and we must conclude that against this system War- -— -^
liam could argue in private, but he had nothing of the -^a^S
martyr in his composition; and, when Henry VIII. 1503-32.
commanded him to encourage the profitable sale of
indulgences, Warham offered no resistance or remon-
strance. Believing in purgatory, and accepting the
ope rat urn to its full extent, he would argue that
it could do no harm, that it might do good in a
.spiritual as well as in a temporal sense.

Between Warham and Fisher there seems to have-
continued a friendship throughout their career. They
were neither of them enthusiasts, but they were men
of similar dispositions. Between Warham and another
great contemporary, Fox, bishop of Winchester, no
cordiality appears to have existed. Even when they
acted together as members of the Privy Council of
Henry VII, we find them differing in opinion in re-
gard to the marriage of Prince Henry with Katherine.
At a later period, a dispute arose between them upon
a question having reference to the prerogatives of the
metropolitan, as bearing upon the rights of his suf-
frage

* The question related, I have little doubt, to the right claimed
by "\Varham to hold a provincial or metropolitical visitation. I have
searched in vain for information on the subject. I believe that no
documents or records touching the alleged dispute exist in the
episcopal or capitular archives of Winchester. I am informed
by Mr. Baigent, whose diligence as an antiquary is well known,
that he can find no reference to it in his notes. There is no reference
to the subject in Warham's Register in the Lambeth library, which,
as I nave observed before, is the least important of all the archi-
episcopal registers. Richardson, in his addition to Godwin, merely
mentions the fact, that Fox contended with other bishops, concern-
ing the prerogative of Canterbury, against Archbishop "SVarham, to
the prejudice of the See. But he gives no authority. I find the
statement, however, relating to such a controversy, confirmed by two

344 LIVES OF THE

It is interesting to find questions arising even at
this period, relating to rubrical difficulties before the
William Reformation.

Warnam.

1503-32. The festival of Corpus Christi was instituted in the
year 1264. It was to be celebrated on the Thursday-
after Trinity Sunday. In the year 1529, the vigil
of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist fell on that
festival, and application was made to the primate to
know on what day the fast was to be kept. The pri-
mate, perplexed, wrote to the pope. It was not a
point on which Leo X. would feel much interest ; but
he assured the primate that, having taken counsel with
his brethren, he had come to the conclusion that,
when the vigil of St. John Baptist should fall on the
feast of Corpus Christi, the fast should be kept on
the Wednesday preceding.*

Warham was engaged in another controversy, to
which we have had occasion in a preceding volume
to refer. In a letter dated " At Lambeth, 4 June, in
the year of our pontificate 5," the archbishop ad-
dressed a letter to the Abbot of Glastonbury, in which
he mentions that it had lately come to his ears, that
a certain tomb of the holy Dunstan had been openly
erected by the abbot, by which he would have it
inferred that the sacred body was buried in their
chapel. The archbishop produces evidence to show
that the aforesaid saint, who had preceded him in

letters, NOB. 3066 and 4552, among the State Papers. These show
that the King and Queen Katherine took an interest in the pro-
ceedings, and nothing more. The controversy was continued under
Cranmer and Gardyner. Perhaps some critic may be more fortu-
nate if he will inquire further into this matter. For the dispute
between Cranmer and Gardyner, see Cranmer's Letters (Parker
Soc.), 304, and Strype's Cram. i. viii.

* "Declaratio jejunii vigilise Sancti Johannis Baptistae contin-
gentis in die Corporis Christi." — Ex. Reg. Warham, fol. 26,

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 345

the archiepiscopal dignity of Canterbury, had been CHAP.
duly buried in Canterbury Cathedral, where his body — ^
had lately been discovered. By his blindness, rash- -\varham.
. or boldness in asserting that the saint was buried 1503-32.
at Glastonbury, the abbot was bringing scandal to the
Church of God, and leading the people of the realm
into no small error, superstition, and confusion; for
can it possibly be believed, without mistake, that the
body of one saint should be in different places, or
that one body, instead of the other, should be con-
sidered sacred and adored ? That so great a disgrace
and abuse might not gradually proceed to still worse
evil, and that the truth of the matter might become
more evident, he earnestly exhorted, as well as begged
and required, his fraternity to appear before him, in
his own person, if possible, but, at all events, by
deputy, at the next occurrence of the Feast of the
Translation of the holy Thomas the Martyr. The
abbot was directed to bring with him such writings
and records as favoured their pretended title ; and.
an act of prudence in the meantime, the archbishop
advised the abbot not to suffer the pretended body of
St. Dunstan to be disclosed and venerated by the people
in any way.

To this, Eichard Beere, the abbot of Glastonbury,
made reply. He admits that, with the full concur-
rence of the bishop of the diocese, he and his brethren
had removed the tomb of St. Dunstan, their patron
and saint, from one place to another, because the
shrine being easily touched, the hands of persons
who approached it were often found to pilfer the
pieces of gold and silver with which it was adorned.
It was removed to a higher position, beyond the reach
of pilferers. They did not allege that his body had
been buried at Glastonbury : but what they asserted

346 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, was that, after the destruction of Canterbury by the
— ^ Danes, his sacred bones were conveyed to that place.
He suggests that, while the greater portion of his

1503-32. remains had been conveyed to Glastonbury, some
particles might have been retained by the monks of
Canterbury, and these were what had been lately
discovered : he will be glad to have it found that,
while the monks of Glastonbury possessed the pos-
terior and upper portion of the skull, the monks of
Canterbury had the forehead or anterior portion, and
then, without scandal or tumult of the populace,
Dunstan, like some other saints, might be honoured
in different places. He could not prevent the remains
of God's saint from being disclosed or venerated by
the people, lest haply he should be fighting against
God. The people in the neighbourhood having been
accustomed from time immemorial to pay their devo-
tions at the shrine of St. Dunstan, at Glastonbury,
a tumult would be occasioned if they were to discon-
tinue a custom which very generally prevailed ; it
would be more reasonable for the monks of Canter-
bury to conceal their newly-discovered relics until
the proposed inquiry as to their authenticity could be
made. He pleads the infirm state of his health as an
excuse for not waiting upon his grace ; but assures
him that he is always ready to obey his commands,
so far as they might be done without detriment to the
rights of his church and monastery.*

This correspondence taking place immediately before
the Reformation is worthy of notice. Within a few
years, the shrines of St. Dunstan, whether at Glaston-
bury or at Canterbury, were demolished ; and the
money, misappropriated to the purposes of super-

* Ang. Sac. ii. 229 — 231. The originals may be found in Vol. I.
of this work, p. 422 et seq.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 347

stition, was devoted to the purposes of a profligacy
which, thuugh equally opposed to the practices of
true religion, is regarded with feelings of greater
toleration. 1503-32.

When we remember the celebrated pilgrimage of
Erasmus and Colet, if Colet is personified by Gratianus
Pullus,* to the shrine of St. Thomas of Canterbury ;
we may presume, that the archbishop, who, privately,
agreed with them in opinion, acted on this occasion
from any impulses of his own, than from insti-
gation of the monks of Canterbury, whose rights he
sworn to maintain, and whose perquisites were
likely to be diminished. Credulity had been the
fault of the past ages, about to be superseded by a
general tendency to scepticism. We are not surprised
at the occasional inconsistencies of Warham, Fisher,
and More, and, to a certain extent, of Erasmus, when
the prevalent feeling in their minds was, that super-
stition should be denounced on the one hand, while,
on the other, care was to be taken k-st the spirit of
inquiry should develop itself into a latitudinarianism
nearly allied to irreligion.

These observations are intended to introduce to
the notice of the reader an extraordinary imposture,
which obtained more importance than it would other-
have deserved, through the attempts of both
parties, when parties were formed on the subject of
the divorce, to make out of it, to use a modern ex-
pression, political capital.

The age, the high station, and the infirmities of
Archbishop "\Varhain. were probably his protection
when lir committed himself to the ridiculous but
(tragical affair, which conduced, among other things,

f This map be considered as a fact established by Erasmus himself
in his Modus orandi Deum.

348 LIVES OF THE

to the legal murder of his friends, Bishop Fisher
and Sir Thomas More. It is not indeed improbable,
as Sir Henry Ellis remarks, that, if Warham's life
1503-32. had been prolonged two years, he would himself have
been subjected to a charge of misprision of treason.

So far as we are justified by our documents in
arriving at a conclusion, we have no reason to suppose
that Warham was influenced, in any part of the trans-
action, by any political feeling. From politics, indeed,
he carefully abstained, except when political subjects
were forced upon his notice. He was probably led
on by the easy indolence of a man who, in retire-
ment, requires some amount of excitement, and seeks
it in the passing occurrences of the moment, some-
times very trifling.

Elizabeth Barton was residing, in a menial capacity,
at Aldington, in Kent, the living which had been
offered by the archbishop to Erasmus. Being affected
by some hysterical disorders, she was visited by the
pastor of her parish, a man of the name of Maister,
who was surprised to hear her, when lying apparently
in a kind of trance, uttering frantic and incoherent
sentences, which, probably in ignorance, he regarded
as inspirations, and of a prophetical character. Maister
made a communication upon the subject to his dio-
cesan, the archbishop. The treatment of such a case
in the sixteenth century differed widely from that
which it would have received in the nineteenth, and
was contemplated with different feelings. The first
inclination would now be to regard the case in the
light of a mere disease, to be submitted to the phy-
sician ; or else it would be denounced as an imposture.
In the sixteenth century the inclination would be to
look at it with awe as a Pivine or a diabolical visi-
tation. It might be found, on investigation, to be an

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 349

imposture ; but the onus probandi would be with the CHAP.

sceptic. The remarkable impostures, such as those L^

relating to spirit-rapping, which are now believed by ^JJJJ™
noble lords and literary gentlemen, whose incredulity 1503-32.
and infidel propensities are only visible when the
Bible is concerned, are sufficient to moderate our
censure of Warham, Fisher, and More, when they
were inclined to give credit to the ravings of Eliza-
beth Barton. The archbishop, having heard the
exaggerated statement of Maister, directed him to
watch the case, and to note what, under her fits of
inspiration, the young woman might say. It does not
appear that either Maister or his patient had any
intention, in the first instance, to deceive. By herself
and by her pastor, Elizabeth Barton was thought
to be inspired. He was amazed at what he had
witnessed, and, finding the archbishop equally asto-
nished, he then became anxious, for his own credit's
sake, to increase the marvel, or, at all events, to show
that he had not been deceived. His credulity in-

-ed the disorder of the young person : and, under
the notion that she was inspired, the contortions of
her body became more violent, and her hysterical
utterances more frequent. She was told that to con-
ceal the workings of the Holy Spirit within her would
be a sin, and there soon became method in her
madness. Maister was a man himself of inferior
capacity, and was, like the girl, a dupe before he
became an impostor. He consulted one Bocking, a
monk of Christ Church, whom he met when he went
to Canterbury. Bocking appears to have been alto-
gether an intriguing, avaricious, and designing man.
He saw clearly how they might make a gain of god-

ss. The young woman heard the priests affirm
that she would be restored to health if she prayed

350 LIVES OF THE

before an image of the Virgin Mary, in the chapel of
Courtop Street.* She soon had a vision of the Virgin,
an^ tne suggestions of the priests became a mandate
1503-32. of Our Lady. She was carried to the chapel. She
lay long prostrate before the image. Her prayer was
heard. A miracle was wrought ; she was apparently
restored to health.

The consequence was that wealth flowed in upon
Maister and Bocking from the numerous pilgrimages
which were made to the image of the Virgin.

It is to be remembered, that this imposture, cleverly
managed, covered the space of eight years ; it was no
sudden evanescent transaction : it was gradually
developed. Elizabeth Barton declared that the malady
had left her, and the servant-girl was sinking into
insignificance. She had been the subject of a miracle ;
others in their own cases imagined the same ; and
nervous diseases of various kinds were healed by a pil-
grimage to the image in the chapel of Courtop Street.

Another step must be taken, or the occupation of
Maister and of Bocking would have been gone. The
disease was cured ; this was the fact that brought
grist to the mill of Aldington. But what had been
at one time a disease was now a Divine visitation.
There were contortions of the body, and she was
frequently to be seen in a trance ; at such times, she
saw visions and received revelations from the Virgin.
It was hardly fitting that such a person should con-
tinue nothing more than a servant-girl.

It was arranged, that there should be a great gather-
ing in the chapel of those who had received benefit
through the intercessions of Our Lady, before whose
image, the work of men's hands, multitudes had fallen

* Otherwise Courte of Street. See Cranmer's Eemains.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 351

down in the chapel of Courtop Street. Elizabeth
Barton was there, and all eyes were fixed on one
through whose instrumentality so many diseased per-
sons had received the blessing of health. Suddenly 1503-32.
her whole frame was convulsed ; the contortions of her
face were frightful. She spoke, for a revelation had
been made to her, of Our Lady's will : that will was
that Elizabeth Barton should receive the veil. There
were but few monasteries that would receive the pro-
fession of a penniless girl ; but here was a Divine
command and a case of miracle ; and where were the
religious that would refuse obedience, or forego the
fame which attached to a wonder-worker ? Elizabeth
Barton was removed to a nunnery, St. Sepulchre's, at
Canterbury. She was now under the immediate care
of Dr. Booking, who became her spiritual adviser or
ghostly father.

All had succeeded so far. Her patrons were en-
riched by the pilgrimages to Aldington. Elizabeth
Barton herself, now called the Holy Maid of Kent,
was in a place of comfort and respectability, receiving
- from the great and the good. Among her visi-
tors was the Archbishop of Canterbury, who wrote
thus to Cardinal Wolsey :—

" Please it your grace, so it is that Elizabeth Barton, being
a religious woman, professed in Saint Sepulchre's, in Canter-
bun-, which had all the visions as Our Lady of Courtop Street,
a very well disposed and virtuous woman (as I am informed
by her sisters), is very desirous to speak with your grace
personally. "What she hath to say, or whether it be good or
ill, I do not know ; but she hath desired me to write unto
your grace, and to desire the same (as I do) that she may come
into your grace's presence. Whom, when your grace have
heard, ye may order as shall please the same. For I assure
your grace she hath made very importune suit to me to be a

352 LIVES OF THE

mean to your grace, that she may speak with you. At
Canterbury, the first day of October." *

William

Warham. Wolsey was not likely to be harried away by
1503-32. enthusiasm, and evidently treated the whole proceeding
with contempt ; hence he incurred the enmity of the
nun and her accomplices. But Warham thought the
case to be of sufficient importance to bring it before
the king, to whom he presented a roll on which was
written many of the nun's rhapsodies. The king sub-
mitted the document to Sir Thomas More, who was
astonished to find the inspired utterances unworthy of
notice. " I find nothing," he said, " in it, that I can
esteem or regard : a simple woman, in my mind, might
have spoken it all."

These statements, however, show that a sensation
had been caused through the proceedings of the Holy
Maid of Kent, long before an idea was entertained of
making political capital out of the case. It would
appear that, however it may have been with respect
to others, Warham viewed it in its religious and
not in its political aspect. It can hardly be said
to have assumed a political character before Warham
had passed to that place where " the wicked cease from
troubling, and the weary be at rest." He only knew
that in her trances she was heard to rebuke sin, and

* Ellis, Third Series, ii. 137. It is interesting to compare this
letter with one on the same subject, written by Cranmer, and to be
given in his Life. The change of feeling which had already taken
place, is worthy of remark. Warham was afraid of shocking the
religious feeling by not believing the miracles of the Nun of Kent ;
Cranmer was afraid of shocking the same feeling by appearing to
believe in it. Warham was, perhaps, less of a believer than he
supposed himself to be ; Cranmer, perhaps, believed rather more
than he professed. In the filthy spirit which loves to imagine
impurity, it has been asserted in after times, without the shadow of
a proof, that Booking had an intrigue with the Nun of Kent.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 353

that she, an unlettered girl, gave utterance to the CHAP.
most orthodox dogmas, and denounced the new learn- __
in or. Had her patrons been contented with this state -^jj^
of things, all might have been well. But when per- 1503-32.
sons have once lived on excitement, it is to them as
to the man who indulges in spirituous liquors : there
must be fresh causes of excitement, or a depression
ensues, which it is too painful to bear.

They passed into the world of politics. The country
livided into two great factions, the party of the
king and the party of the queen. The men of the
new learning, the Reformers in general, were on the
king's side, as his mistress, Ann Boleyn, had signified
her inclination, so far as was safe, to extend to them
her patronage. They were intellectually powerful ;
but at present numerically weak. The great bulk
of the nation, the people, the women especially, and
the clergy, were vehement in their feelings of in-
dignation at the insults offered to a lady whose
conduct as a wife and as a mother had been ex-
emplary, who had maintained the dignity and de-
corum of the English court, who had become a
thorough English woman, and now was to be treated
foreigner.

The Holy Maid of Kent became political. By
whom she was prompted it does not appear; but
til*.- divorce was condemned, and she was directed to
warn Queen Katherine and her daughter not to
acquiesce in any arrangement which might have this
object in view.

Into the details of her conduct after she had become
simply and consciously an impostor it is not necessary
for me to enter. The history is well known. It is
known how cruelly her case was brought to bear upon
the fate of some of the greatest persons this country

VOL. vr. A A

354 LIVES OP THE

<*iup. lias produced. How Henry and Crumwell wished to

represent the case so far as it concerned Warham, may

Warham. be seen from the act of attainder against Elizabeth

1503-32. Barton, Edward Booking, and their accomplices. It

says :—

" And for ratification of her false, feigned revelations, the
said Edward by conspiracy, between him and the said
Elizabeth, revealed the same to the most reverend father,
William, late archbishop of Canterbury, who by false and
untrue surmises, tales, and lies, of the said Edward and
Elizabeth, was allured, brought, and induced to credit them,
and made no diligent searches for the trial of their said false-
hoods and considerations, but suffered and admitted the same,
to the blasphemy of Almighty God, and to the great deceit of
the prince and people of this realm."*

We now pass on to observe that, however anxious
"Wai-ham may have been to convert a high and holy
office into a splendid retirement, where he might
enjoy his otium cum dignitate, he was compelled to
learn, that man looks in vain for a Sabbath in this
sublunary world ; the Sabbath of the Christian, though
predestined to be eternal, will not commence until this
world and the fashion of it shall have passed away.

In 1527, the subject of the divorce, which was
destined to occupy an important place in the history
of England, was first mooted ; and then only among
a chosen few to whom the king's "secret matier" was
confided.

* Mr. Amos shows, ihat in two of his works Lord Coke lays it
down that the affairs of the^"un of Kent and her confederates were
not treason. The parties attainted were not heard in their own
defence before either house of parliament. That they were im-
postors is clear, but of the extent of their imposture we cannot
speak. We know not how far they might have disproved tho
charges brought against them if they had been heard. It is fortunate
in these days that men are not doomed to die for their impostures.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 355

There is some difficulty in ascertaining how and CHAP.
under what circumstances the question of the divorce _ ._

first arose. The difficulty will diminish, however, if we
admit, that the idea of the divorce did not originate 1503-32.
in the king's passion for Ann Boleyn. This intervened
after the subject had been mooted ; and it complicated
the whole affair.

It is expressly stated by Pole, that the idea of the
divorce was suggested by Cardinal Wolsey. Pole,
though a slow man, was not likely to misstate a fact
wilfully, and he only repeated what was the prevalent
opinion, and confirmed it by his own authority. It
is said that this was denie-1 in the legatine court,
and in the presence of the king, by Wolsi-y himself.*
But this is not precisely accurate. We gather what
\Volscy asserted from Henry's reply. What the king
stated was, that the religious scruples by which he
was influenced had not been suggested by Wolsey or
by any one else, but had originated in the piety of his
own royal mind and tender conscience. When the
foreign ambassadors, in reference to certain matrimo-
nial alliances relating to the Princess Mary, objected
that a question might be raised on the ground of Il-
legitimacy, then the passing notions which had dis-
turbed the king's mind received confirmation. Now
we know that, among his political speculations,
Wolsey entertained the notion of a marriage between
Henry VIII. and Piene'e, the daughter of Louis XII.
of France.f Wolsey, with that disregard to private.
feelings which is characteristic of statesmen when the
interests of the public are concerned, suggested that
there was just enough of doubt about the legality of

* Poli Apol. ad Ca-s. The emperor, in his answer to Henry,
made the same assertion ; but his authority was Pole.
t Le Grain!, iii. 1G6, 108.

A A 2

356 LIVES OF THE

CHAP. Henry's marriage with Katherine to enable the
— ~- marriage to be set aside by some one or other of
Warham. those countless subterfuges by which popes were
1503-32. accustomed to override the law, and to accede to the
will of princes, when princes were prepared to defer
to the decisions of a pope. The king, weary of his
wife, listened graciously to the proposal of his minister,
and called to mind the misery he had endured for
years, under the impression that, instead of being a
married man, he had been living in a state of con-
cubinage. Would the queen, from motives of patriot-
ism towards her adopted country, consent to a separa-
tion from the man to whom she had given her heart \
This was the question which it was easy to ask,
and to which it was not difficult to divine what the
answer would be. The queen, when she suspected |
the object of the minister, who from that time became
her aversion, acted like a fond woman and a devoted
wife. She thought to win back her husband's heart
by redoubling the splendours of her court, which she
did to such an extent that Campeggio deemed it his
duty to remonstrate with her on the countenance
which she gave to dissipation. A further proof she
gave of her determination to maintain her position as
the king's wife in her toleration of his infidelities.
The infamy was great when Ann Boleyn kept up a
court in rivalry to that of the queen, under the
same roof ; but we may complain of the weakness of
Katherine in submitting to the insult. It is difficult
to say what she could have done, when she was so
entirely under the dominion of a despot. She pro-
bably hoped that, through her forbearance, the time
would come when she should regain her husband's
heart ; but the fact is to be noticed, since it li.-is
been the custom with Protestant writers to represent

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 357

the gloom of her character, and the consequent
dulness of her court, as a palliation of the king's

f..M rln ft William

[IUCI- Warham.

AVhen the king and his minister had determined 1503-32.
to apply for a divorce in the king's behalf, the next
•ion was to ascertain the general feeling of the
country upon the subject, and especially the feeling
of those statesmen who had concurred in procuring the
dispensation from Julius II. From the part Warhani
had taken in that transaction — having first opposed
the marriage of Henry with Katherine, and having
then officiated at its celebration — to secure the co-
operation, or, at all events, the silent sanction of the
is now important.

AYarham was on a visit, in the year 1527, at Dart-
mouth, the guest of Sir John Wiltshire, when he
waited upon unexpectedly by the cardinal It
must be remarked that Wolsey's object was simply to
discuss the policy of a divorce, without any reference
nn Boleyn. Ann Boleyn had not come on the
'*. The cardinal enlarged on the king's scruples.
He admitted that they were not shared by the queen.
Katherine was a pious woman, but her conscience was
rive than that of her husband ; and as for the
king himself wishing to be separated from his wife,
the cardinal was commissioned to assure the primate
that Henry's sole desire was the "searching and
trying out of the truth.''

On the political aspect of the affair, there was much
to be said, though less than is sometimes supposed.
That some fears were entertained of the consequences
likely to arise out of a disputed succession we may
infer from the fact, that on this subject the king's
friends dwelt much. But these fe.-.rs were really enter-
tained only by a few. Sir Thomas More, opposed as he

358 LIVES OF THE

CHAr. was to tlie divorce of Katberine, openly declared that he
J^l_ was ready to acknowledge the right of parliament to
William rCmilate the succession to the throne. He held to the

\varham.

. . . .

1503-32. oW English principle, the hereditary right of the
family, to be regulated by the decision of the nation.
The various acts of parliament regulating the succes-
sion passed in Henry's reign, and the quiet manner
in which the Ladies Mary and Elizabeth severally suc-
ceeded to the throne, all suffice to show that the suc-
cession was subject to parliamentary arrangements ; and
the contempt with which the attempts of Mary queen
of Scots were met, in her endeavours to act in defiance
of the law of parliament, only corroborates the fact.

At the same time, the fact that she had a party to
support her, and that, throughout the reigns of Mary
and Elizabeth, pretenders to the crown from time
to time appeared, and that, from jealousy of their
pretensions, blood was cruelly spilled on the scaffold
and in the field, must be adduced to show that a
party also existed which upheld the doctrine of uncon-
trolled hereditary right to the crown. It was not yet
ascertained, nor was it ascertainable, whether this
notion, for the maintenance of which Jacobites after-
wards fought and died, was a doctrine only of a
minority in the land.

The heir-presumptive was a girl ; and a female had
never yet succeeded to the English throne. The claim
of a female in the case of the Empress Maud and the
late Elizabeth of York, had, with their own consent,
been set aside.

The question started by foreign diplomatists as t<»
the legitimacy of the Lady Mary, had been especially
brought forward and strongly urged by the Bishop
of Tarbes ; at least such was the statement made
to Warham, who had originally regarded the match,

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 359

not from the religious, but from the political point CHAP.
of view.* How much importance was attached — ~
to this interview with the primate may be inferred ^aSam.
from the fact of the cardinal himself waiting upon 1503-32.
Warham ; and also from the notification, that he
watched the archbishop's countenance as he made his
communication to him, to see what impression his
arguments would make. AVolsey '•'carefully watched
the fashion and manner of my Lord of Canterbury ;"
and Warham evidently received the royal communi-
cation better than was expected. There was never
any enthusiasm or chivalry about the man, and now.
instead of throwing his aegis over a poor, persecuted,
unbefriended queen, he consented to take the hard,
dry legal view, of the subject. He determined that.
without regard to the queen's wishes, " the truth and
judgment of the law" must be followed, — law without
justice, and judgment without mercy. It had been
supposed that he would take up the queen's cause :
but, when he declared himself on the king's side.
AVoLscy supplied him with directions how to proceed
if the queen sent for liim.f

Thus stood the case with the archbishop ; and, when
the royal intention was divulged, the people in general .
approved of a measure which would give the king a

• I think Dr. Lingard, in the Appendix P to vol. iv. ha>
established the point that the objection, said to be urged by tin1
Bishop of Tarbes to the legitimacy of the Princess Mary, was a
mere fiction agreed upon by Henry and the cardinal to cajole the
primate.

t State Papers, L 195, 196. When we read this letter we easily
understand why, on AVolsey 's fall, the great seal was offered to
Warham. Henry feared that the queen might be supported by
the primate ; he was, therefore, to be made keeper of the king's
conscience.

360 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, young wife, and secure a male heir to the throne.
— ! — They thought not much of the subject; and as for
wSam. kings and queens, it was so usual for them to marry
1503-32. and to be unmarried for the good of their subjects, or
for political objects, that the people did not con-
template any great opposition on the part of the
queen. Wolsey had made up his mind as to the
person who was to occupy the second seat on the
throne when it should become vacant. The people in
general fixed on Margaret, duchess of Alen^on. All
were well pleased with a king who yielded to the
dictates of conscience, and for the sole welfare of his
people was ready to receive or repudiate a wife,
according to the requirements of his council and the
exigences of his country.

But a change soon took place in the opinion of the
public. All persons were astonished and many were
shocked when the news spread, which was at first in-
credible, that the king of whose scrupulous and tender
conscience so much had been said, whose single aim
had been the good of his subjects, had determined to
elevate his mistress to the seat from which he had
resolved to dethrone the royal lady who for seventeen
years had rendered respectable as well as brilliant
her husband's court, and concealed his evil doings
from the public eye.

The matronage of England was insulted ; the clergy
united with them in an expression of indignation.
The expression was deep though not loud, because a
despotic power was exerted to suppress it ; party
writers, at a later period, have ignored its existence.
But we have the strong assertion of Wakefield, made
to 110 less a person than to King Henry himself, that,
if the people were aware of Wakefield 's having changed
his side and of his advocating a divorce, which he had

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 361

previously opposed, they would stone him to death.*
Wolsey, to quiet a disturbance, was obliged on one
occasion to proclaim that, happen what might, the
husband of the Lady Mary would be the heir to King 1503-32.
Henry's throne. f The women were so enraged that,
on another occasion, they threatened the very life of
Ann Boleyn. So impossible was it found to prevent
the clergy from attacking her from their pulpits, that,
by an unheard-of exercise of despotic power, when
Crannier succeded to the primacy, he was obliged to
close all the pulpits in his province, except to those who
received a special licence to preach. The sagacity of
"\V< ilsey foresaw the result of this act of infatuation on
the part of Henry ; and when the king first signified his
intention to him of marrying his mistress, the cardinal
remained for hours, on his knees, imploring him not
to be guilty of an act so deplorably rash ; an act, in
truth, which in any one except Henry himself would
have cost him not only his crown but his life. {

It was fortunate for the king, that he now found
two counsellors who have left each of them a name,
equally distinguished in history with that of AVolsey
himself ; — Thomas Cranmer, wise to suggest great
measures, and Thomas Crumwell, unscrupulous in
carrying them into effect. Crannier urged the king to
transfer the question of the divorce, through an exertion
of the royal supremacy, from the papal to the national

* Knight's Erasmus, Append, ix. p. 28.

t Le Grand, iii. 204.

{ Cavendish, 139. The arguments said to have been employed
by Wolsey on the occasion are to be found in Le Grand ; they are
all of a political character. Xot long after, another faithful
minister, Sully, sued in vain to Henry IV. of France, when that
monarch, under an infatuation similar to that of Henry of England,
determined to insult the morality of nations by causing his mistress
to be crowned.

362 LIVES OF THE

courts; by Cromwell the king was advised to apply
the Supremacy to a visitation of the monasteries with
*ne yiew perhaps, in the first instance, to mulctuary
1503-32. proceedings rather than to their suppression.

Upon the subject of the Supremacy, something ha.s
been said in the introductory chapter of this book, to
which the reader is referred, and something will pre-
sently be added. It has been shown that in every
reign the royal supremacy, as a matter of fact, was
asserted. When by their own misconduct, and the
political management of the authorities at Borne, the
general councils were suppressed, and from the time
of Martin V. it had been maintained that the supreme
authority in the Church rested not, as was before con-
tended, in the councils, but in the Bishop of Borne :
the rights of national churches were virtually sup-
pressed. The century preceding the Beformation was
one of extreme laxity in what related to doctrine as
well as in what related to conduct. The papal power
was no longer resisted, as in times past, by the king,
the clergy, and the people of England. The clergy
permitted their primate to be, in effect, superseded
by a legate a later e ; the people were universally
discontented, but they had confidence in their king ;
and King Henry VIII. was, in the earlier part of his
reign, a violent and unreasoning papist. Instead of up-
holding the clergy of the Church of England against
the pope, he disliked the clergy and abetted the pope,
when the pope attempted to exercise that authority
over them which the king's predecessors had resisted.

But Henry in action was not consistent. He did
not, until the close of Warham's primacy, assert his
supremacy theoretically, or as a matter of right ; but,
if his will was thwarted, then, as a matter of fact,
the Supremacy was shown in reality to exist.

AECHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 3G3

In no instance was this more clearly manifested CHAP.
than in the case of Dr. Standish, the consideration of — ^^
which I have therefore reserved for this place. w^am

Dr. Henry Standish, warden of the Minorities of 1503-32.
London, was one of the most popular preachers of the
day.* He was a prudent man, and one who. contrary
to what we should expect in a friar, maintained, like
Cramner, the rights of the national Church, even when
they clashed with papal assumptions. We may
account for this tendency in Standish, when we find
him to be a courtier, and one of the king's counsel
learned in the law. The antagonism between the friars
and the secular clergy still existed, and in the towns
the friars had the ascendency ; they mixed more freely
with the people, and were the better, or at all events
the more popular, preachers. It was by the secular
clergy and the upper classes that the friars v,
disliked : by the former, because they set at nought
every parochial regulation and ridiculed the incum-
bents ; by the latter, on account of their vulgarity, and
the petty arts by which they cheated the ignorant.

* Erasmus Lad a quarrel with Standish, and represents him as a
man of consummate ignorance and impudence. "We must regard
these as the words of an angry man. Standish was very probably
not a proficient in classical literature. Bat even here we must
qualify the assertion of Erasmus. Unless Standish had some
acquaintance with Greek, he could hardly have entered into a
controversy with Erasmus on his translation of tha first verse of
•St. John's Gospel, In j>/-lncijH'j n\it ,5v/ •/;*<.> instead of rerluin.
That he sought to damage Erasmus with the king by accusing him
of heresy may be adduced as a proof of his malignity, but not of
his ignorance. But Erasmus could retaliate, and we know that
Standish resented a charge of ignorance when brought against him,
as Erasmus did a charge of heresy. In 1519, Standish was advanced
to the see of St. Asaph, commonly called at that time St. Asse.
Erasmus thought it witty to speak of him as J?i-i*:opus a Sanctv
Anno.

364 LIVES OF THE

CHAP. Standish was the more powerful, because his position
— ~ was exceptional. He was at the head of the friars,
Warham. an<^ could command their services ; he was popular
1503-32. through his preaching ; he was hostile to the secular
clergy, and the London incumbents in particular ; he
was learned in the law, and knew that by the law the
king was over all causes and persons supreme ; he
maintained the royal cause against the clergy, and
thus, having a common cause with the nobility, with
them also he was a favourite. In 1512, an act of
parliament was passed, by which murderers, robbers of
churches, and housebreakers were deprived of their
clergy, unless they were in holy orders. Against this
act, Richard Kidderminster, abbot of Winchcombe,
declaimed in 1515, from the pulpit at Paul's Cross.
He represented it as an act opposed to the liberties of
the Church. The act only so far invaded the liberties
of the Church as to prevent the Church from extending
its protection to persons guilty of these offences, not
because they were in holy orders, but because, being
able to read, they were qualified for ordination. The
abbot, however, went still further : he asserted that the
lords spiritual and temporal, as well as the commons,
by whom the bill was passed, had incurred the cen-
sures of the Church. The preacher was impeached, and
the king appointed a commission, consisting of a
certain number of divines and a certain number of
temporal lords, before whom the case was to be
argued. The commission met at Blackfriars, and was
attended by the judges.* The secular clergy generally

* Letters and Papers, Henry VIII. In No. 1313 we have
Keel way's account of this affair. Keelway lived in the reign of
Elizabeth, and his statements must be corrected by the account
of Dr. Standish and Convocation, No. 1314 — a contemporary
document.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 365

supported the abbot. Standish was the leading conn- CHAP.
sel against him. He contended manfully, that what ^-^-L-
was passed for the good of the realm could not be wjJJjJJ
against the liberty of the Church, — the realm and the i:
Church consisting of the same persons. The commis-
sion did not come to an agreement ; the bishops were
unwilling to accede to the demand of the lords tem-
poral, that the Abbot of Winchcombe should be made
to apologize. Party feeling ran high. Among the
lower classes, it was taken up as a quarrel between
the secular clergy and the friars ; in the upper classes,
it was a controversy between the lords temporal and
the lords spiritual.

As is usual in such cases, party feeling hurried both
sides into extreme measures which could not be justi-
fied. The clergy, wrong from the beginning, put them-
selves still further in the wrong, by prosecuting
Dr. Standi.sh in convocation, not only for heterodoxy
in some of the arguments which, as counsel in this
case, he had employed ; but for heterodox opinions
which were deduced from lectures he had given, — the
heterodoxy of which would certainly not have been
noticed, except for his conduct in this affair. The
lords temporal asserted, that by this proceeding the
convocation had incurred the penalties of a praemu-
nire. The accusation is remarkable ; it shows that
it was considered as already possible that a whole
corporation as well as an individual might incur
those awful penalties, and this probably first suggested
this policy to which we shall ha\e occasion presently
to advert.

The affair was patched up. When the king be-
came himself a partisan, and showed symptoms of
anger, the bishops only thought of the least undigni-
fied manner of escaping from the difficulty. On a

"WIT

366 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, comparison of tho several statements. I think the
facts may be fairly stated as follows : — The kino-

demanded and received an explanation from the con-
1503-32. vocation, and then took the case into his own hands.
Tie summoned the judges and the members of tho
Privy Council to meet him at Baynard's Castle.
The judges gave judgment that the convocation, by
its proceedings, had incurred the guilt of prcemunire ;
appending a threatening clause to the effect, that
the spiritual lords had no place in parliament except
by virtue of their temporal possessions, and that
therefore the king could hold a parliament by himself,
the lords temporal, and the commons, without sum-
moning the spirituality. This was a significant hint,
and Wolsey, with his usual quickness of decision,
kneeled before the king, and solemnly assured him
that nothing had been intended prejudicial to the pre-
rogatives of the crown. Assuming that he himself was
the head of the clergy, he alluded to the fact, that it
was impossible for one like himself, who owed his
advancement solely to the royal favour, to assent to
anything that would be derogatory to that royal
authority on which he was wholly dependent. He
prayed the king to permit the matter to be referred to
the pope and his council at Rome. This was the form
in which he thought it best to let the matter drop, and
as the king was at this time (1515) a violent advocate
for the rights of the papacy, it was not probable that
he would refuse.

Instead of letting the matter rest here, however, the
Bishop of Winchester and the Archbishop of Canter-
bury prolonged the discussion, the former provoking
the king by a sarcastic remark on Dr. Standish ; and
the latter eliciting an opinion from the chief justice
stronger than had yet been given, by weakly alluding

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 367

to the conduct of some of his predecessors in office, CHAP.
whose conduct be praised, but was by no means _j^_
prepared to imitate. "Warham remarked that in former ^J^ani
days, many holy fathers had resisted the law of the 1503-32.
land on this point, and some suffered martyrdom in the
quarrel. Fineux, the chief justice, answered that the
correcting of clerks had been practised by many holy
kings, and many fathers of the Church had agreed to
ir. Then, turning to the bishops, he added : " If a
clerk be arrested by the secular authority for murder
or felony, and the temporal judge commits him to you
according to your desire, you have no authority by your
law to try him;' Hereupon the king said : " We are,
by the sufferance of God, king of England, and the
kings of England, in times past, never had any superior
but God. Know, therefore, that we will maintain the
rights of the crown in this matter, like our progenitors ;
and as for your decrees, we are satisfied that even you
of the spirituality act expressly against the word of
several of them, as has been well shown you by some
of our spiritual counsel. You interpret your decrees
at your pleasure ; but as for me, I shall m vcr con-
sent to your decrees more than my progenitors have
done."*

* The king evidently alluded to an argument ad Iwminem adopted
in the course of his pleading by Dr. otandish. The counsel on the
other side maintained that there was a decree of the Church expressly
opposed to the act of parliament, and that decrees of the Church all
Christians were bound to obey. Standish met him. by an ad
c'tf>f'Uidiim argument ; all bishops, he reminded his opponent, were
by the decrees of the Church required to be resident in their
cathedrals at every feast ; but yet this decree the majority of the
bishops of England disregarded. The reader is to be reminded
that the case of Dr. Horsey and the merchant Hun, of which
Foxe and Burnet have made so much, occurred at this time,
when party feeling ran very high. It seems clear that Dr.

368

LIVES OF THE

CHAP.
II.

William
Warkam.

1503-32.

This occurred in 1515, at a time when Henry VIII.
was a devoted supporter of papal rights ; we may
rather say of the pretensions of the see of Eome, un-
acknowledged by the English constitution.* His feel-
ing was, that he would support the pope, when the
pope could establish his pretensions ; but, at the same
time, he would maintain the prerogatives of the crown,
according to which the king was in all things supreme.
The two powers having co-ordinate jurisdiction, the
supremacy of the pope over the clergy was to be
rendered consistent with the supremacy of the king
over all, whether of the clergy or of the laity.

But, although the king asserted his supremacy, he
did not perceive how it bore upon the question of the
divorce, until he admitted Cranmer to his counsels.

Horsey was wrong in the first instance in prosecuting him ; but we
have the high authority of Sir Thomas More (Works, 297) for regard-
ing the verdict of the coroner's jury bringing in a charge of murder
against those who had the custody of Hun when in prison as the
dictate, not of justice, but" of party rancour. The party feeling
which the case still excites is attributable in part to the supposition
that Hun was prosecuted in the legatine court. In an attack on
the legatine court, the clergy would have gladly joined. Hun was
prosecuted in the national court of the Bishop of London, which
had existed from the time of William the Conqueror. The legatine
court, as we have seen, was introduced by Wolsey, and was intended
by him to supersede other ecclesiastical courts.

* Henry went so far in his deference to the see of Rome that
when he showed to Sir Thomas More his book against Luther, Sir
Thomas says, " I moved the king's highness either to leave out that
point," — what he had said of the primacy of the pope, — " or else
to touch it more tenderly ; for doubt of such things as might hap
to fall in question between his highness and some pope, as between
princes and popes divers times have done. Whereunto his high-
ness answered me that lie would in no wise anything mind of that
matter ; of which thing his highness showed me a secret cause
whereof I never had anything heard before." — More, ed. Cayley,
i. 188.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY.

369

The mind of this illustrious man was a legal mind :
he was greater as a lawyer than as a theologian. It
was a providential blessing to our Church that Cran-
mer and his master were so attached even to the
technicalities of the law, that this circumstance acted
upon them as a restraint in the midst of proceedings
which necessarily bore a revolutionary character.

Wolsey, on the other hand, brought the mind not of
a lawyer or of a divine, but of a statesman, to bear
upon ecclesiastical affairs. He looked to the end, but
disregarded the means. In defiance of the constitu-
tion and of the law, he had introduced the legatine
courts, and this proved to be the cause of his fall,
by perplexing the whole subject of the divorce.*

The divorce, according to Wolsey's view, could only
be settled by the pope ; and the pope would act
through his legates. Hence the country was insulted,
and the constitution violated, by the opening of a
legatine court to try the case, and to sit in judgment
on the King and Queen of England. The very notion
of the thing stirs up the blood of an Englishman,
and this was one of the causes of Wolsey's unpopu-

* The word " divorce" is used throughout this controversy ; but
the reader must bear in mind that a divorce in the strict sense of
the word could not be pronounced. The question was whether the
dispensation obtained to legalize the marriage of Henry and
Katherine were a legal document, — whether the pope had power
to legalize the marriage. The pope might dispense with a law of
the Church, but not with a law of God. If Arthur were really
married to Katherine the pope's dispensation was null : if it were
merely a contract without consummation it was a marriage, but
only in the eye of the Church, and a dispensation would hold. If
the marriage were consummated, then it was a marriage in the sight
of God, who prohibited marriage with a deceased brother's wife.
Therefore, when the pope granted a dispensation for the celebration
of the marriage, he was acting ultra vires. Hence the importance
attached to the consummation.

1503-32.

VOL. VI.

B B

370

LIVES OF THE

CHAP.
II.

"William

larity. In his own case he had established the prece-
dent of holding a court, not in the king's name, but
in *kat of the pope, and, in regard to the divorce, he
1503-32. could only suggest the formation of a similar court
with enlarged powers. Cranmer's clear and sagacious
mind perceived where the difficulty lay, and he
suggested the remedy. The Church of England was
a national Church, and was not, as Wolsey regarded
it, a mere dependency upon Rome. The national
Church had, from time immemorial, possessed eccle-
siastical courts : the king, as supreme over all causes
and persons, ecclesiastical and civil, was bound to
see that the decisions of those courts should be
carried into effect. The pope had no right to initiate
proceedings ; he had no right to hold a court within
this realm ; the divorce must be pronounced in
England and in English courts, and* then against the
decision an appeal to Rome might lie. The English
courts having sat in England, and decided, if, contrary
to the law of the realm, an appeal were carried to Rome,
there judgment would be given, not on the king, but
on the proceedings of the English judges. Let the
divorce be decided in England, and the ministers of
Henry knew how to obtain a verdict, when the king
had determined what the verdict should be. Either
party might appeal ; in the interval between the judg-
ment and the appeal the king might act as he pleased
—that was no business of Dr. Cranmer. Before his
acquaintance with Dr. Cranmer, the king had been ad-
vised to obtain the opinion of the canonists and uni-
versities. Let an opinion be obtained favourable to
the divorce ; let the English courts, armed with i\jj&
authority, decree the divorce ; and it was not probable
that the courts of Rome would reverse the judgment.
As this subject will come repeatedly before us, it is

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 371

as well to be precise, and to point out the difference CHAP.
between the counsels of Cranmer and those of Wolsey, __^J
Gardyner, and Bonner, all equally in favour of the ^l}^
divorce, and all willing to go great lengths to compel 1r03_32
the pope to grant it. Cranmer asserted that the
case was to be tried in the English courts, with the
power of appeal to Rome. The others supposed that
proceedings must be initiated in a foreign — the papal
—court. Their object was to terrify the pope, and to
compel him, not only to institute a legatine commis-
sion without delay, but to appoint such judges as
would decide as the king wished. They admitted the
papal claim to act in the first instance ; but wished
to make the pope, from political considerations, an
unjust judge. Cranmer had no intention to deny
the papal rights ; but he asked, as an English lawyer,
what those rights were. He called upon the king to
exercise that authority which, as we have seen, he
claimed, and, by the exercise of his supremacy, to
prevent the pope from originating proceedings. The
others were not prepared, as Cranmer was, to deny
the pope's right to initiate. Cranmer saw the weak
point in his own case from the beginning, — the
admission of a right of appeal to Rome from the
judgment of the English court. We infer this from
the extreme anxiety we shall afterwards find him ex-
hibiting, when he gave what is called the Dunstable
judgment, lest an appeal against this judgment should
!><• lodged by the queen. On this account, Henry de-
murred to act at once upon Cranmer's advice ; he per-
:ed, until circumstances rendered his marriage
with Ann Boleyn a necessity, in acting on the advice
of Gardyner and Bonner ; and he hoped to intimidate
the pope. He understood Cranmer's advice to be,
Obtain a sentence in your favour in the English courts ;

B B 2

372 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, marry upon it; then, if there be an appeal, it will have
reference, not to the first marriage, but to the second,

not to the king> but to
1503-32. Although we have brought this subject under one

point of view, we must now return to the considera-
tion of the measures adopted by the king antecedently
to the acceptance of Dr. Cranmer's counsel, which will
come under notice in Cranmer's life. The question
was, how to deal with the clergy \ When the question
related simply to the divorce, they were prepared to
acquiesce in whatever the Government might decide
upon doing. When it was known, that the king was
infatuated by his attachment to his mistress, for whose
sake he would sacrifice his country as well as himself;
when it was known that his mistress would be satisfied
with nothing less than a share of his throne ; every
manly sentiment was enlisted on the side of the
insulted majesty of Katherine. The clergy, and, —
until Ann Boleyn allowed it to be supposed, that
in her the advocates of reform would find a patron,
—to a very great extent the people also, were, as
the people generally are, on the side of injured
innocence.

Wolsey, deeply depressed, still laboured in his
master's service. His supplication to Henry not to
disgrace himself in the eyes of Europe, or to forfeit
the high character which Wolsey, at his own soul's
risk, had won for him, had not only been in vain,
it was a petition which led to Wolsey's own ruin. Ann
Boleyn was mistress of the king's secrets. She knew
that Wolsey had opposed her marriage with the king,
and she never forgave. She in her own mind exaggerated
Wolsey's power. He could, she thought, obtain for her
the crown matrimonial, if he would. He refused to do
so; he should die. Whereas, in point of fact, Wolsey

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 373

lacked the means of doing what could only be ac- CHAP.

. ii.

complished by a renunciation of those principles, in ^^

the fearless maintenance of which his strength had lain. ^J^
He foresaw the end. He knew the king's weakness 1503-3-2.
and his strength ; his weakness inciting him to give
pleasure at any cost to those who were near him, and
in whose pleasures he could participate, — his strength
of will, which was death to all who appeared, even
through non-exertion, to resist it. Wolsey soon began
to betray his own weakness — a weakness which reduced
the foremost man in all the world to a state of abject
cowardice. There are some who are irresistible in
their might, when they ride upon the wave, and,
amidst the plaudits of admiring multitudes, steer
through the threatening rocks and quicksands, strewed
with shipwrecks, into the haven ; but who sink into
nothingness when the cheering support is withdrawn.
Such were Wolsey at Leicester, and the first Napoleon
at St. Helena.

Wai-ham, though feeble in health, apathetic, and
lukewarm, remained on the king's side throughout
the controversy. In a letter from Henry VIII. to
Beuet, written the year before Warham died,* Benet
is directed to represent to the pope the injustice
of citing Henry to Rome ; and, acting on Cranmer's
suggestion, he is to propose that the case should be
adjudged in England by the Archbishop of Can-
terbury. In the instructions to Benet, the king
observes : —

" Ye may sodenly ex abrupto say : ' And why, syre, should
ye not suffer the Archbishop of Canterbury to determyne thys
matier in Inglande, who ys metropolitane, and hathe the hole
jurisditione established there only for thys purpose, ne cai'ste
erocentur yf hyt were done there, and as the Kynges Highness,

* Letters, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII.

374 LIVES OF THE

my master, desyryth? Ye alredy knowe, as I have "before
shewed you, yt shuld be justly determined, for so all lerned
William men conclude.' . . . We doubte not but the Archbishope of
""• Canterbury wyl gladly for discharg of his duetie entrepone

, 1X> ., .,

hymselfe yn the same.

The eulogy which follows, paid by Henry to War-
ham, the year before his death, may be cited as an
honourable testimony to the archbishop's merits :—

" And for the person of Bisshop of Canturbury ye may say
ther canne be no person in Christendome more indifferente,
more miet, apt, and convenient then the sayd archbisshop, who
hath lernyng, excellent high and long experience, a man ever
of a singular zele to justice, and at the fyrst of the Queue's
Counsayl, but also for hys age, beyng above fourscore yeres,
&c. . . . He should not fynd a personage, &c."

With the proceedings of the legatine court on the
subject of the divorce we are not concerned. The
legatine court was held in defiance of the laws of
England, and the canons of her Church. The rights
of the Church of England were ignored. The people
were justly indignant at seeing their king submitting
to be tried in his own realm, by a foreign court, — an
indignity to which the country had never been sub-
jected, except in the reign of King John. The
whole proceeding reflected disgrace upon all parties.
The Archbishop of Canterbury was too .timid to defend
the rights of his province, or rather of the two pro-
vinces of England, for of All England he was Primate.
A powerful king was putting forth all his strength to
crush a noble-minded woman, the jealous feelings of
whose loving, broken heart he ostentatiously insulted.
The pope prevaricated. The aristocracy of England,
converted by Henry and his father into courtiers, had
received or were in expectation of, the substantial
favours which the crown only could confer. The
House of Commons was packed. The universities were

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 375

intimidated. The clergy were persecuted. The laws CHAP.
of God and man were violated. But while the great ^L,
men were at fault, the country was sound at heart. -J^ham
The common people were still true to their generous 1503-32.
intuitions, they were loud in their exclamations of
disgust when Campeggio arrived in England. The
women continued to make the queen's cause their
own, they openly accused the king of incontinence, and
did not hesitate to assert the truth, — that the king's
conduct was to be traced, not to principle, but to
passion. They honoured the wife who had borne her
faculties meekly but royally ; and they repudiated the
ambitious mistress whose conduct was as disreputable
as it was heartless.

The royal criminal, however, was not to be thwarted.
The more he was opposed, the higher rose the intel-
lectual power of Henry, directed by an indomitable will.
He was equal to the occasion. He soon settled matters
among his courtiers, for their hopes, perhaps life itself,
depended upon the servility of their votes and the
steadiness of their support. Among the commons of
England Lollardism prevailed to a considerable extent.
There were among the learned not a few, as we have
seen, determined upon effecting a reformation of the
Church, and at the head of this party the king wisely
placed Ann Boleyn. It was given out that she
favoured the " new learning," and thus, without com-
promising the king, all Reformers were permitted to
regard her as a patroness. "We all know how religious
faction can wash even a blackamoor white. It is
curious to observe how from the days of Henry VIII.
to those of Lewis XIY, and from Lewis XIV. to the
time of George IV, royal mistresses have sought to
attach popular religious parties to themselves, and
how religious parties have accepted them.

376 LIVES OF THE

CHAP. The king convened a meeting in his palace at
—- -v-L, Richmond, not only of the Privy Council, but of the
Warham. mayor an(l civic authorities of London, who, rather
1503-32. than the House of Commons, represented the commercial
aristocracy and the moneyed interest of the country.*
With that bonhomie and hearty good humour which
rendered him always popular, he laid before them his
whole policy, foreign and domestic, and claimed their
support. The oration, as it was called, made a favour-
able impression, as is always the effect of royal ad-
dresses and royal condescension. But still the people,
the women, were against the king. The clergy might
influence them ; but the clergy either openly sup-
ported the queen or at best were lukewarm. Wolsey
saw the danger of exasperating the royal mind, and in-
consistently laboured to win them to the king's side.
He persuaded Warham to make a similar attempt ; but
all they succeeded in doing was, to prevail on them
to throw the responsibility from themselves by pro-
posing to submit the whole question of the divorce to
the arbitration of a council at Rome ; that is, to have
no trial, but a special council called to legislate on the
case. This was of course a mere evasion. The king
determined to intimidate the clergy. Although a
reverence for the sacred office still lingered among the
people, the clergy, as we have seen, had made themselves
sufficiently unpopular. Of this the archbishop and his
suffragans were well aware. In the case of Dr. Standish

* See Stow, 541. There is some difficulty in the chronological
arrangement of this period of our history. I follow Stow when I
refer to the royal oration at this time. When dates are not given
in ancient documents something must be left to conjecture, and
when we begin to conjecture there must be varieties of opinion.
There is no doubt as to the occurrence of the facts, though their
exact order is not ascertained.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 377

which has been already given we have some insight into CHAP.

the prevalent feelings of the Londoners. This was more

apparent in an event which took place about the same ^^
time. A merchant of London, named Hun, had been 1503-32,
prosecuted for heresy, and, being committed to prison,
was found hanged in his chamber. Although, accord-
ing to Sir Thomas More, who though a determined
defender of the Church, was by no means an advocate
of the clergy, Hun was felo de se, yet the chancellor of
the diocese was accused of having caused him to be
murdered, and was prosecuted accordingly. Against
his indictment in a temporal court his partisans
protested ; and one of the bishops declared that the
London juries were so prejudiced against the clergy
that they would find Abel guilty of the murder of
Cain.* We are not to construe too literally the obiter
dictum of a party man ; but, after all allowances, the
exactions of the clergy, out of which the prosecution
of Hun arose, had roused the public feeling against
them. The friars, it is to be observed, took an active
part against the secular clergy.

The king knew that his support was of more impor-
tance to the clergy than the clergy were willing to
believe. He had only to side with their opponents
and their adversaries would be irresistible. The kino-

did not attack the Church. The Church was not
attacked by the parliament when it was assembled.
On one occasion, indeed, Bishop Fisher asserted that
a feeling hostile to the Church or to Catholicism in
general, prevailed in the House of Commons, and he so

* The story is given in Burnet. It is difficult, perhaps impossible,
with the evidence we possess, to give a verdict in this case either
one way or the other. If we read the statements with a view to
acquit the chancellor, we have a case ; and a strong case we have
if we take a brief against him.

378 LIVES OF THE

€HAP. offended the members, that they addressed an angry

1_ remonstrance to the king against the bishop. Even

•Warham *n 1^31, we find the House of Commons retaliating on
1503-32. the bishops, and complaining that they did not evince
a sufficient zeal against heresy. Many evils existed
and required reform, but they originated not in any
fault found in the organization of the Church, but in
the maladministration of the clergy. Sir Thomas More
expressed the feeling himself, when he declared that
what was wanted was not new laws, but a strict
enforcement of existing laws.

Under these circumstances, it was rumoured, the
rumour of course originating with the king himself,
that a parliament would be called.

To parliamentary government Wolsey had been
practically opposed. With the exception of one ses-
sion, parliament had not met for fourteen years. We
are not to suppose that a parliament at this period,
resembled such an assembly as that which has repre-
sented the learning and ignorance of the country, its
philanthrophy and its malignity, its religion, supersti-
tion, and infidelity, during the last thirty years. But
under a different form, we may, perhaps, find the vir-
tues and the vices in similar combination, the impo-
tence, folly, and wickedness of man being overruled by
a superintending Providence.

The parliament which met in 1529, memorable
equally for its merits and its faults, was an assembly
in the deliberations of which the king did not hesitate
to interfere, and which acted to a considerable extent
under his dictation. He took the initiative in the
legislation, and several acts are represented as originat-
ing in "the goodly and gracious disposition of the
king." The House of Lords consisted of the lords
spiritual — that is to say, of the two archbishops,

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 379

sixteen bishops, two guardians of the spiritualities, c^p'
twenty-six abbots, and two priors — and the lords tern- v-^~-
poral, in number at the first meeting of a parliament Wnbam.
which lasted for seven sessions, of forty-four peers. 1003-32.
In the House of Commons there were two hundred
and ninety-eight members. From the original corre-
spondence, which is now in the hands of the public,
we find that the House of Commons was elected
almost always under the influence, and most frequently
by the direct interference of the Government. The
chronicler, Hall, speaks of the fact, and apparently
with approbation, that " most part of the Commons
were the king's servants." On one occasion, in a pre-
ceding parliament, the Earl of Surrey was informed
that a subsidy had been granted of unprecedented
amount, " the more part being of the king's council,
his servants, or gentlemen."

Such were the three estates of the realm, the lords
spiritual, the lords temporal, and the commons : they
were summoned to do the bidding of one who would
have scorned to have been styled, as is the custom
lately introduced, one of the three estates of the
realm, and who regarded himself simply as their lord
and master, seeking their advice, and requiring them,
according to the letter of the law, to give legal validity
to the dictates of his will.

At the same time, the king knew that his will they
might resist, and although on such resistance they
•would be dissolved, and not permitted to meet again,
he was nevertheless aware that a law-loving people
would become discontented, and that to a discontent,
founded on reason, any pretender to the crown, and
such was sure to appear, might appeal with every
1-ility of success. The three estates, therefore,
were to be intimidated and managed.

380 LIVES OF THE

To govern the clergy resort was also had to intimida-
tion. The conduct of the lords spiritual in submitting to
*ne royal dictation in the House of Lords is surprising.
1503-32. The common supposition, that they were looking to
preferment does not meet the case. They were
generally men who had risen to the highest position in
the Church, and although translations were possible,
they did not offer a sufficient bribe to allure them to
silence when direct attacks were made upon their con-
stitutional privileges. It is very difficult to rouse into
enthusiasm and zeal those who feel that they have a
falling cause to defend ; they are more likely to call
into exercise the virtues of submission, when they feel
the ship sinking beneath them, than to display the
heroism which fires the heart when the standard is, at
peril of life, to be planted in the enemy's battery.
The lords spiritual were guilty of the unpardonable
fault of despairing of the fortunes of the spiritual
republic. They thought, so far as the abbots were
concerned, that their case was hopeless, and they were
prepared to make the best bargain they could for
themselves individually.*

* A similar feeling depresses the clergy of our own generation.
There is no fear of the spiritual well-being of the Church of Eng-
land. The clergy may be tempted to become republican from seeing
how the Church thrives in republican America. But so far as the
Establishment is concerned the feeling that little can be done is de-
pressing. The state of public feeling may be gathered from public
events. In Queen Anne's reign the queen, as the representative of a
grateful nation, went in state to St. Paul's, amidst the plaudits of
the people, to return thanks for Marlborough's victory. Not once on.
any occasion has Queen Victoria evinced a regard for the public ser-
vices of the Church. The national religion is treated with scorn
before it is denationalised. What makes the treatment of the
Church more marked is this, that when the Sultan visited this country,
the Government gave him, as a national act, a splendid entertainment,
with the avowed object of conciliating the inhabitants of India by
showing respect to the Mahometan religion through its head.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 381

Of the lords temporal, the majority were courtiers CHAP.
grateful for favours received, or more grateful still for ^J_
promises made of favours to come. An hereditary ^jj^™
aristocrary. .succeeding to wealth and honours by the 1503-32.
chance of birth, are always jealous of an aristocracy
which is theoretically the result of professional merit.
Between the nobles and the ennobled clergy there has
always been a jealousy, which would induce the lords
temporal to join in measures calculated to humiliate
those who had precedence in their common house.

The commons were almost all of them placemen, or
men expectant of place. They were contented with
bribes less valuable, though more directly offered, than
which now win supporters to the one side or the
other of the House. If they evinced independence
when a subsidy was required, "they were spoken with
and made to say ' Yea ; ' — it may fortune," says a con-
temporary writer, — " contrary to the heart, will, and
conscience."

This is not asserted to depreciate the three estates of
the realm in Henry's time, for men will always be cor-
rupt, or corruptible, until they become saints ; but the
form and extent of the corruption is noticed, since it
is important to iin«l«-i>tand the fact, that Henry VIII.
i de-spot under constitutional forms ; and that for
what was done, in the name of the king and the three
estau-s. the king himself was, to a great extent, the
responsible person.

The parliament met on the 3d of November, 1529.
Wulsrv was already in disgrace. When Warham had
declined the seals, Sir Thomas More was appointed
Chancellor. He was the personal friend of Warham,
a leading person in the Erasmian school of reformers,
to whose memorable saying allusion has before been
made — " I could not provide better provision than are

382 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, in the Church provided already, if they were as well
^_ kept as made."

s U8ual sound judgment
1503-32. in selecting for his advisers two such men as Warhani
and More. The sentiment uttered by More expressed
the principles upon which the king designed to act :
Uphold the Church, reform the clergy. The difference
consisted in the fact, that Henry acted as an impassioned
man, the other two on principle only. Both "VVarham
and More had committed themselves on this subject.
Warham had endeavoured to reform the crying evil of
the day, the ecclesiastical courts ; he had appointed
Colet to address to the clergy a sermon which must
have sounded to many as a bill of indictment : to effect
a reformation of the ecclesiastical courts, he had bowed
his cross before that of Wolsey, and, he had per-
mitted the establishment, for a season, of a legatine
court within his province. The worst class of the
clergy were too deeply interested in the iniquities of
those courts to take timely warning, and things had
gone on from bad to worse, and were now at their
worst. The king, enraged at the clergy for not sup-
porting him in the question of the divorce, had a strong
case against them. He knew that, whatever the
general feeling of the country was as to his " secret
matier," an attack on the ecclesiastical courts would
be popular, and it was the first measure of the new
parliament.

It has been before remarked that the clergy were
not attacked on the ground of immorality. That there
were cases of gross immorality to be produced when
reference was made to the life and conduct of ten or
twelve thousand men is not to be doubted ; but these
must have been regarded as exceptional cases. At all
events, as a body they were not arraigned.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY.

383

The proceedings of the first session of this parliament,
in regard to ecclesiastical affairs, were skilful, moderate,
and well-conducted ; such as we should expect as
emanating from that good man, Sir Thomas More, the
friend and counsellor of the king and of the primate.

Three bills were introduced : one to regulate the
testamentary jurisdiction of the spiritual or consistory
courts ; another to regulate mortuaries, a payment which
had caused as much disturbance as the demand, in our
days, for church-rates ; and a third to prevent the
clergy from engaging in farming or in trade, or from
holding more benefices than one, except under peculiar
limitations ; it also legislated against non-residence.

The reader of these volumes has read enough, and

O 7

more than enough, of the abuses requiring correction
in the consistory courts ; and he will not be led astray
by the rhetoric of party or Puritan writers, who would
represent the action under this parliament as the first
attempt to remedy the evil

So early as the reign of Edward III. an act was
passed in which complaint was made of the out-
rageous fines for the probate of testaments by the
ministers, deputies of bishops, and by other ordinaries
of the holy Church. The king charged the Archbishop
of Canterbury and other bishops that they cause the
same to be amended. If they refused, then by an
act of his supremacy, it was accorded that the king
should cause to be inquired by his justices of such
oppressions and extortions, to hear them and determine
them, as well at the king's suit as at the suit of the
party, as in old time hath been used*

Henry claimed no powers beyond those which had
been exercised by his ancestors. He sought to correct
a grievance which was sure to rise, not only in eccle-
* Edward III. st. i. c. 4.

CHAP.
II.

William
Warham.

1503-32.

384

LIVES OF THE

CHAP.
II.

William
Warhain.

1503-32.

siastical courts, but under all other jurisdictions, so
long as the officers of the court, and, to some extent,
the practitioners, were paid by fees, not limited by
law, but demanded according to the supposed exigen-
cies of the case. An exorbitant fee was demanded,
and the person upon whom the demand was made
would frequently meet the unjust demand rather than
encounter the toil, trouble, and extra expense of carry-
ing the case by appeal from one court to another, with
the possibility in the end of not receiving justice.
The officer of the court, the ordinary or the practitioner,
was thus able to make any demand he might think fit,
looking, not so much to the case, as to the ability
of the client to meet his demand. We have seen
how Archbishop Warhani endeavoured to correct the
grievance on his first coming to the primacy ; but we
must not forget that in so doing he was only following
precedent. By a constitution of Archbishop Mepham,
it was enacted that, for the insinuation of the testa-
ment of a poor person, the inventory of whose goods
should not exceed one hundred shillings, nothing
should be demanded.* Archbishop Stratford also, it
will be recollected, attempted to meet the evil by fix-
ing the fines. By a constitution of his, no fee whatever
might be taken by any ordinaries, and among the
ordinaries the bishops are included. He permitted
the clerks writing the insinuations to receive sixpence
for their labour, and no more.t A regular gradation
of fees, when large sums were accounted for, was laid
down by the primate ; but in every instance they
were remarkable for their moderation.

What was now done was nothing more than the
parliamentary enactment of a constitution already
made by a primate of the Church.

* Lyndwood, 170. f Ibid- 181.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 385

The second bill had reference to mortuaries, an CHAP.

ecclesiastical demand which had been the cause of 1_

violent altercations between the clergy and the laitv. ^T™3111

.o-' J Warhaiu.

The payment was, like church-rates in modern times, 1503-32.
resisted sometimes from mere factious motives by the
Lollards ; but the resistance, from whatever motive,
was too often justified by the unjust and exorbitant
demands made by the clergy.*

A mortuary was originally an oblation made at the
time of a person's death ; in early English times it
was called soul-shot. It was due to the parish church
of the deceased person ; and the payment was enforced
so early as by a law of King Canute. This payment

made the subject of subsequent legislation ; but
there was no regulation as to the amount of the fee :
this depended upon the custom of a parish : and the
clergy too often asserted, that modern custom should
be superseded by ancient custom, when the fees re-
quired by ancient custom (they themselves being the

rians of the fact) exceeded that which had been
latterly tendered. The statute of Henry in this, as in
the former instance, was a regulating statute. It did
not deny the right of the clergy to the fee; but it
affirmed, that question and doubt had arisen upon the
order, manner and form of demanding, receiving and
claiming mortuaries, otherwise called corse-presents.
It was ordered, therefore, that no manner of mortuary
should be taken or demanded of any person, who, at
the time of his death, was not in possession of moveable
goods worth ten marks. From a person possessed of
more than ten marks, but under thirty pounds, the
parson might not take more than three shillings and
fourpence for the whole, and so on, the largest sum
allowed to be taken being ten shillings. Parsons and

* 1 Still, 171.
VOL. VI. C C

386 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, other ecclesiastics were permitted, however, to receive
— 1^ any sum bequeathed to them or the high altar of the
church, such being regarded, not as a fee to be claimed,

1503-32. but a free gift to be received.

These two bills passed through the House of Lords
without difficulty. The third was calculated to excite
considerable opposition. It was one of those many
bills which, touching apparently the surface only, was
intended to penetrate more deeply and to make an
incision into the very principle which had hitherto,
and for many years, rendered the Church, in point
of fact, a secular possession ; the resource, not of
theologians, but of lawyers, diplomatists, and states-
men. What the bill proposed was simple enough,
and what rendered the task of its opponents more
difficult was, that it was based upon principles the
validity of which it was impossible to deny.

We have frequently shown how different was the
view taken of the objects for which the Church was-
endowed in the fourteenth and fifteenth, and the early
part of the sixteenth century, from that with which
we are familiar in the nineteenth. An ecclesiastic was
bound to promote the glory of God and the welfare of
his fellow-creatures, in things temporal as well as in
things spiritual, as God should provide the means*
When kings could summon the whole nobility of the
land to fight their battles, they often found it next to
an impossibility to supply the civil offices of the state
from the ranks of the aristocracy. The clergy became
statesmen, diplomatists, and lawyers, and they were
supported and remunerated by the preferments of the
Church. They performed their ecclesiastical duties by
deputy, and the endowments of the Church were re-
garded as designed, not for the benefit of any particu-
lar place, but for the maintenance of those who, in

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 387

fighting the battles of the Church militant, required CHAP.

T 1

a large income, and the means of supporting many _^_
retainers. As the aristocracy became less warlike and -^^™
more learned, they desired to see the bishops confining 1503-32.
themselves to their peculiar and pastoral duties, with-
out intruding any longer into offices, the duty of
which the laity could discharge as well as they, and
for which there were many aspirants.

The secular spirit exhibited by their superiors per-
vaded, as we have seen, the lower ranks of the clergy,
and they became lawyers, farmers, tradesmen, ready
to do anything for money. It is impossible to omit
our special duties and undertake others, not immedi-
ately devolving upon us, though in themselves equally
important, without deterioration of character. To
this secularity on the part of the clergy we have
traced that degradation of the clerical character of
which the country complained ; and now, when the
arts of peace were cultivated, we are not surprised that
to the laity, the conduct of the clergy in engaging
in the different objects of worldly pursuit, with
peculiar advantages, should be deeply offensive. It
was imder the impression of feelings such as these,
that a bill was introduced into parliament which had
for its object the prevention of clerical farming or
trading, for abolishing pluralities, and for enforcing
residence.

But we must, in fairness, look on the other side.
What was proposed, though it met with the approba-
tion, doubtless, of those quiet unobtrusive parish priests
who, unknown to the world, were administering the
Gospel in remote and retired districts, was regarded
by a large body of the clergy as nothing less than
ruin. It was, and it was designed to be, a revolu-
tionary measure. The farming and trading had

c c 2

388 LIVES OF THE

.CHAP, reference chiefly to the regulars, and what were the

^ monks to do if they were no longer to cultivate their

wTrham estates and bring the produce to market ? At the
1503-32. same time, the reference to pluralities and non-resi-
dence would render it impossible for the higher ranks
of the clergy to engage any longer in state affairs.
There could be no future Wolsey ; the chancellorship
must henceforth be in lay hands ; and the eloquence
of the clergy would be no longer heard in the courts
of law. We have, in our time, been accustomed to see
the bishops and clergy abstaining from politics almost
to a fault ; but, though we cannot sympathise in the
alarm felt when this measure was first brought for-
ward, we may try to understand it. If the legislation
of the country, it was said, should pass exclusively to
the hands of the laity, as it must be, if the bishops
were without exception compelled to reside in their
dioceses sometimes as difficult to reach as the diocese
of a colonial bishop of the present age, what would
become of the property of the Church ? Why were a
large body of landed proprietors, because they were
clergymen, to be virtually excluded from the councils
of the nation ?

That there was some truth in the objections thus
urged is proved by the fact that, when the measure
was carried, the dispensations for non-residence and
for holding pluralities were so numerous, and so easily
to be obtained, that it became a restriction rather than
ar? abolition of the practice against which it was
originally directed. The abolition of pluralities and
the enforcement of residence was not finally carried
till the reign of William IV, and even now it is
questionable whether what is correct in theory is
working well for the Church. We are not surprised,
at all events, at hearing that, when the bill was intro-

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 389

duced into the House of Lords, it met with consider- CHAP.

able opposition from the lords spiritual. ^

The object of the king, at this time, was to alarm,
but not to throw over, the clergy, and he therefore
interposed his good offices. There was a conference
between the two houses, and the last bill, according to
some writers, was at the king's suggestion remodelled.
They were finally passed, with the sanction of the
lords spiritual.*

* In the debates, the venerable, aged, but still energetic Bishop of .
Rochester, a friend of Erasmus, and encourager of the new learning,
argued with so much vehemence and eloquence, as to give offence to
certain captious members of the House of Commons. It was said that
the bishop had dared to cast suspicion upon the orthodoxy and upon
their attachment to Catholicism. The speech is given in Baily's
Life of Fisher. The bishop explained that his words were to be under-
stood in a parliamentary sense. Purists in morals, and historians
whose inaccuracies in their statements of facts favour their party
views, affect to be shocked at the insincerity of the pious bishop's
explanation. We will state, therefore, his defence : A complaint
having been made to the king, he sent to my lord of Rochester to
come before him ; " being come, the king demanded of him why
he spake in such sort ; the bishop answered, that being in council
he spake his mind in defence of the Church, whom he saw daily
injured and oppressed by the common people, whose office it was
not to judge of her manners, much less to reform them, and, there-
fore (he said), he thought himself in conscience bound to defend
her in all that lay within his power ; nevertheless, the king wished
him to use his words more temperately, and that was all, which
gave the commons little satisfaction." The words actually used by
Bishop Fisher were as follows : " My lords, beware of yourselves
and your country, beware of your holy mother the Catholic Church ;
the people are subject unto novelties, and Lutheranism spreads
itself amongst us. Remember Germany and Bohemia, what miseries
are befallen them already ; and let our neighbours' houses, that aro
now on fire, teach us to beware our own disasters : wherefore, my
lords, I will tell you . plainly what I think, that except you resist
manfully by your authorities this violent heap of mischiefs offered
by the commons, you shall see all obedience first drawn from the

390 LIVES OF THE

CHAP. In this the first session of parliament, the clergy

had nothing to complain of. In the progress of our

Wiijia™ history we have had to speak of parliaments much

1503-32. niore stringent in their enactments, and displaying

more hostility against the clerical body.

A hint had now, however, been given to the clergy
of what they might expect if the king's protection
were withdrawn, but the hint was not taken. As a
body they refused to argue before the people in favour
of the divorce, and party feeling soon made them
.oppose it. When the advocates of reform among the
lower orders espoused the cause of Ann Boleyn, the
clergy were naturally led to argue more strongly in
favour of the injured Katherine. The reforming party
sought to win the king, and, though they did not suc-
ceed, they had the satisfaction of seeing him come
clown with irresistible force upon their opponents.
The king had at his right hand in Crumwell a bold
adviser, who suggested a measure of gigantic iniquity,
by which the king and his mistress might avenge
themselves of the clergy, while the exchequer, left
exhausted by Wolsey, might be replenished without
the demand of a subsidy from parliament.*

It was discovered, all of a sudden, that the whole
English nation was involved in the penalties of a

clergy ; and secondly from yourselves ; and if you search into the
true causes of all these mischiefs, which reign among them, you
shall find that they all arise through want of faith." — Baily's Life
of Fisher, 96. Baily is a pseudonym. I only mention this that
I may not seem ignorant of the fact. I shall quote the hook as
I find it.

* We find that the laity were at first alarmed by the desire,
expressed by the House of Commons, to include the laity in the bill
of indictment for the clergy, introduced into parliament after they
Lad paid their fine. The Government stated that the laity should
rely on the king's generosity.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 391

preemunire for having yielded to the legatine authority CHAP.

of Wolsey. The laity were at first alarmed, not know- _j^_

ing what despotic act was about to be performed. •^'i^1iam

They must of course be absolved, for it would have 1503-32.
covered the Government with ridicule, if an attempt
had been made to outlaw a whole nation, even if a oreat

' O

nation should have yielded to the insult ; especially when
the grand criminal was their accuser — the king himself.
But it was soon surmised that the indemnity of the
laity might be purchased at the cost of the clergy ; and
the people were well pleased to see the clergy taxed to
support the piety of the king or the prodigality of
his court. The case, when argued against Wolsey on
its abstract merits, was easily decided. The statute
of praemunire, passed in the reign of Richard II,
asserted that " The crown of England hath been so
free at all times, that it hath been in no earthly sub-
jection, but immediately subjected to God in all things
touching its regality, and no other, and ought not to
be submitted to the pope." By the same statute it is
enacted that " They who shall procure or prosecute any
popish bulls and excommunications, in certain cases
shall incur the forfeiture of their estates, or be banished,
or be put out of the king's protection." This, however,
was not the only statute that could be hurled against
the cardinal. The reader, accustomed to the state-
ments of post-Reformation Romanists, and of historians
who stultify themselves by admitting those state-
ments without examination, may probably not be
aware of the anti-papal character of the statute law
of England anterior to the time of Henry VIII. By
a statute of Henry III. the pope's canon law had no
place in England, except so far. as the king and parlia-
ment permitted.* To the king was given the last

* 20 Henry III. c. 0.

392 LIVES OF THE

appeal of all his subjects, the patronage of bishoprics,
and the investiture of bishops ; no subject could be
William cited to Eome without the king's licence, no legates

Warham. . . i ?• i

1503-32. could be admitted without the king s permission and
an act of courtesy ; when any legate was admitted he
had to accept an oath, not to do anything deroga-
tory to the king or his crown. To issue a papal ex-
communication in England without the king's consent,
or to bring over a papal bull, involved the .offender in
the forfeiture of all his goods. Bramhall, summing up
the statutes, says, " So the laws of England did not
permit the pope to cite or excommunicate an English
subject, or dispose of an English benefice, or send a
legate a latere, or to receive an appeal out of England
without the king's consent."*

The iniquity of the proceeding as against Wolsey
rested with the king. We have already called atten-
tion to the fact, abundantly proved by the royal
letters still in existence, that the unwilling pope was
almost compelled by the king to grant the cardinal's
hat to Wolsey ; and that, even after he had conceded
the cardinalate, he was reluctant to accede to the
king's resolve that he should also be appointed legate
d latere. That after this the king should visit his
own offence upon the head of his servant, faithful to
him if to no one else, and certainly, in the opinion
of his contemporaries, the foremost man in all the
world, — this is something so monstrous that we are

* See the Stat. of Clarend., the Stat. of Carlisle (35 Edward
I. c. 4 § 3), the Artie. Cleri (9 Edward II. c. 14), (the Stat. of
Provisors), 25 Edward III. (Stat. 6, § 5), [2] 7 Edward III.
c. [1] ; 16 Eichard II. c. 5 (Statutes of Praenmnire), Placit.
an. 1 Hen. VII. et an., 32 et 34 Edward I. (and the Just. Vindic.
c. iv. vol. i. pp. 141 — 148). See more of this in the Introductory
Chapter. See also Bramhall, i. 137, ii. 298:

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 393

at a loss for words to express our contempt for the CHAP.
meanness to which, ill his vengeance as in his love _^L,
affairs, Henry VIII. could stoop. AVolsey was aware ^Sim.
that he was transgressing the law when he accepted 150^-32.
the legatine office ; but he contended that the king
had a dispensing power, and he was careful to obtain
a licence under the great seal before he ventured to
exercise the legatine authority. He showed his
precaution, because, at the same time, it was pleaded
that those old laws relating to the supremacy of the-
crown and the independence of the Church of England,
had from the early part of the fifteenth century become
obsolete. Thus fortified he had, as the king's prime
minister, discharged the functions of legate, with the
entire approbation of his royal master, for fifteen
years. In a letter to his judges he mentions the
existence of this licence in his coffers ; but his papers
had been seized, and he consequently had no means
of self-defence.

Soon after AYolsey's death a bill was filed by the
attorney general in the court of King's Bench, at the
suit of the crown, against the whole clergy of England
for having submitted to the legatine authority, which,
in defiance of the statutes of prsemunire and of pro-
visors, the late cardinal had exercised. The iniquity
of the proceeding in this case was even more flagrant
than that which was displayed against Wolsey himself.
In the royal councils, the high and haughty tone of
Cardinal "Wolsey was now replaced by the subtle
cleverness of the wily Crumwell. The only persons
in the country who had offered any opposition to the
legatine court were the clergy. They had not,
indeed, taken sufficiently high ground : they had not
dared to oppose the royal will by referring to the
acts of prsemunire* and provisors ; they had not, when

394 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, the king supported the pope, resented, like their pre-
— ,1_ decessors, all papal aggressions ; but, from interested

Warkam m°tives H ma7 ke> tnej na(l keen Opposed tO a juris-

1503-32. diction which was likely to absorb all ecclesiastical
business, and was ruining the judges and advocates
of the ancient ecclesiastical courts of the Church of
England. We have seen that, throughout his episco-
pate, Warham's peace was disturbed by the indignation .
of the clergy, who forced him, against his will, or in
spite of his indolence, to come into collision with the
cardinal. Warham and some of the higher clergy
were equally guilty with Wolsey, though in yielding
to the legate they made great personal sacrifices ; but
the clergy in general were unjustly accused, although
when the charge was against them, they relapsed
into a supineness difficult to understand. Whether
•they had thought the laws obsolete or not, the laws
of the land they had undoubtedly transgressed, and
they had nothing to do but to throw themselves on
the mercy of the king, — a mercy to be bought and
sold. The clergy taxed themselves, and the laity
were interested in permitting the king to extract from
their coffers a large sum, for this would render him
less exorbitant in his demand upon the laity. The
courtiers were amused at the extreme cleverness of
the king or his adviser. There was no one to take
the part of a body of men who, by the misconduct of
some among the most prominent of its members, had
become unpopular. The question now had reference
only to the amount of the fine which the king, in his
mercy, would condescend to accept as a peace-offering
from his clergy. They had followed his example ;
and, for doing unwittinglv what he had done with

O O •*

his eyes open, they must suffer, while the real criminal
would be enriched. The convocation met on the

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 395

29th day of March, 1530,* and was continued to the CHAP.

day of March, 1531.f The representatives of the ^^
clergy had not now, as usual, to vote such a subsidy J^8111
as their constituents might be willing to pay ; they 1503-32.
were to await the dictation of the crown. It was
understood that a liberal vote would be followed by
an order from the crown to stay further proceedings,
which in the court of King's Bench had been already
begun against the clergy of England. But the ques-
tion did not come before them in such an undigni-
fied form. The king demanded a liberal grant of his

y, on the high ground that some acknowledge-
ment was due to him for the sendees he had rendered
the Church in writing against Luther, in repressing

•, and in protecting the clergy against the insults
of heretics and their other enemies. The benevolence
which the grateful clergy were expected to offer
amounted in the province of Canterbury to the sum of
100,8447. S.f. bfl, in that of York to 18,840?. 05. Wd.
—an enormous sum compared with the present value
of money.

The attention of the king and of the country having
been called to the ancient laws of the realm, and to
the canons of the Church of England, it was under-
stood that, according to those laws, and until the

nth century, the royal supremacy was a fact
of which no doubt had ever been entertained.

It was on this ground that the clergy had been
guilty of a praemunire ; they had insulted the crown,
by ignoring the supremacy of the king in all causes,
and o^er all persons. Of this fact they were now to
be reminded. They were not only to admit that they
had done wrong, but, with a view to future legislation,
they were to understand the ground on which their
* Wilkins, iii. 724. t Ibid. 746.

396 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, submission to the authority of the pope was an unpar-
_j^I_ donable offence. Upon this subject the archbishop
wlrham con^erre(i n°t OI1fy w^h the judges and privy council-
1503-32. l°rs> among whom were the bishops, but with the
prolocutor of the Lower House of Convocation, with the
deans and other persons* who took a prominent part
in the proceedings of the assembly. The result of this
conference was, that the royal supremacy should not
be voted as something new, but that, in the formula
making the grant to the king of a fine imposed,
because his supremacy had been overlooked, the
supremacy should be introduced as something not to
be disputed. This statement is made on the only
authoritative document we possess bearing on the
subject ; and the statement is important, for it clearly
shows that the assertion of the supremacy was made
by the highest subordinate authority, the Archbishop
of Canterbury, not with a hostile intention or with a
sinister intention.

The subsidy was voted on the 24th of January.
The conference then took place as to the form in
which the grant should be made, and the indemnity
expressed. On the 7th of February, the archbishop
summoned the Lower House to meet him. When he
came to the words " of the English Church and clergy,
of which the king alone is the protector and supreme
head/'f — there was a demurrer on the part of some
of the clergy.

* Wilkins, iii. 725. Of Warham's opinion concerning the
supremacy there can be no doubt : he said, according to Foxe, in
speaking to the king, "that it was the king's right before the
pope's."

t Without the shadow of authority it is conjectured by some
writers that the assertion of the supremacy in this form was sug- j
gested by Cranmer. It may have been the case ; but we are to j

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 397

They were not so depressed as is sometimes sup- CHAP.
posed, for they refused to admit the title without ~— ^
further explanation and discussion. There was no ^^r
disposition on the part of the king to push matters to 1503-32.
an extremity, nor was the opposition factious. The
subject was under discussion for several days. The
objection was not to the fact itself. The clergy were
willing to admit what they could not deny, that the
King of England had, till of late years, been in all
causes, ecclesiastical as well as civil, supreme ; but the
objection was to the terms in which it was expressed.
The Lower House specified their ground of resistance :
"Lst peradventure, after a long lapse of time, the
terms so generally included in the article might be
strained to an obnoxious sense/'*

remember that Cranmer was not by any means a Protestant at that
time ; that this subsidy was proposed as a reward to the king for
his constant zeal against Protestantism and all heresy, in which
Cranmer joined. There is no reason to suppose, or rather there is
even* reason that we should not suppose, that Cranmer would suggest
such a measure without consulting the primate, with whom he was
on friendly terms. (See Strype's Cranmer, book v. c. iv.) "We
have before us the fact, that Warham was the person who introduced
the clause to convocation, and finally we have the plain assertion of
Cranmer himself. Brooks, not long before Cranmer's burning,
charged him with first setting up the king's supremacy. To which
Cranmer replied, " That it was Warham gave the supremacy to
Henry VIII, and that he had said he ought to have it before the
Bishop of Rome, and that God's word would bear it And that
upon this the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford were sent to, to
know what the word of God would allow touching the supremacy,
where it was reasoned and argued upon at length ; and at last both
agreed and set to their seals, and sent it to the king, that he ought
to be supreme head and not the pope.

"Xe forte post longsevi temporis tractum termini in eodem
articulo generaliter positi in sensum improbum traherentur." — Atter-
bury, Eights, 82. " In the thirty-second session (Feb. 7), the most
reverend (the archbishop), having had private communication with

398

LIVES OF THE

William
Warham.

1503-32.

The clergy, in spite of all that had occurred, retained
their independence, and when the king proposed a
compromise they at first rejected it. At last, Arch-
certain counsellors and justiciaries of our lord the king, began to
treat with the prolocutor, deans, &c., on the matters contained in
the articles added at the beginning of the book of the grant of the
subsidy, which were of this nature : — 1. Of the Church and Anglican
clergy, pf whom he alone is the protector and supreme head. 2. Of
the fear and peril which our most invincible king has banished
from us, and provided that in quiet and secure peace we may be
able to serve God and give due heed to the cures of souls committed
to our charge by his majesty and the people entrusted to him.
3. The privileges and liberties of the same, which do not detract
from his regal power and the laws of his realm, by confirming he
defends. 4. That he would deign to grant a general forgiveness
and pardon for all their transgressions of the penal laws and statutes
of this realm, as well as other laws, in such ample form as had been
granted in that parliament to all his subjects (the statutes of
prremunire being imposed on us in addition). 5. So that all the
laity may thence be burdened. The last article, after consultation
had with the bishops and Lower House, was easily granted in
the thirty-third session (Feb. 8), when the king's justiciaries ex-
hibited a copy of the articles of exceptions to the general pardon of
our lord the king, of which mention occurs in the fourth article,
concerning which the jiisticiaries of the king affirmed that they
had no authority to conclude it until the bishops and clergy had
come to a conclusion with respect to the first article. The notion
of the king's supremacy did not well commend itself to the prelates
and clergy, and they wished it to be modified. During three
sessions, therefore, conferences were entered into with the king's
counsellors as to how they might incline the king's mind to express
that article in softened terms. The king then, by the Lord Koch-
ford, remitted the motion in this form : " Whose protector and
supreme head, after God, he alone is," and refused to have further
discussion with the prelates and clergy upon that matter. At length,
011 the llth day of February, the archbishop proposed the article
of the king's supremacy in the synod in the terms given above.
TVilkins, iii. 725.

The subject is one of such great importance that I have thought
it expedient to present to the reader the original document upon
which the statement rests.

AKCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 399

bishop Warham informed the clergy, that the ting CHAP.

willing to accept the form in the following terms: L^

"of the English Church and clergy, of which we w£b£^
recognise his majesty as the singular protector, the isos-32.
only supreme governor, and, so far as the law of Christ
permits, even the supreme head." This was carried
contradicente. When the archbishop put the
ion the majority were silent. The archbishop
remarked that silence gave consent. He received for
answer. " Then we are all silent." The debate, how-
was resumed in the afternoon, and the formula
in due order agreed to by both houses. It was
subscribed by Archbishop Warham and all the bishops
in the Upper House, and by a large majority in the
Lower House.

have shown in another place, that the dispute
is those who were at first opposed to the arch-
bishop admitted, chiefly verbal. There was a fear
entertained that the temporal authorities should inter-
fere in functions purely spiritual.

The conduct of the archbishop and of the clergy
met with very- general approbation from the other
public bodies. The expression of satisfaction, at the
rion of national independence, on the part of
the universities and other ecclesiastical corporations,
became more enthusiastic when, in 1534, the old doc-
trine was affirmed, that a general council represented
the Church, and was above the pope and all bishops,
the Bishop of Eome having had no greater jurisdiction
given him by God in the Holy Scriptures, within this
realm of England, than any other foreign bishop.*

But to return to Warham. The convocation of
Canterbury met again on the 16th of October, 1531,

* The recognition of the royal supremacy thus took place in
vocation long before it was admitted in parliament.

400 LIVES OF THE

and was continued to the 21st of March, 1532, N.S.
It was chiefly occupied by ecclesiastical business re-

~\K7 * 11 *

Warham. lating to testamentary matters and clergy discipline.

1503-32. The meeting last mentioned, however, obtains a more
general interest from the fact, that on this day the
celebrated Hugh Latimer made his recantation. There
seems to have been some conversation in preceding
meetings, on heretical notions propounded by Latimer
and his friends, Dr. Crome and Bilney. It is not stated
what the articles were wjiich were exhibited against
him, and it is useless to conjecture on the subject.
Latimer was in advance of his age, and being- a

O ' O

straightforward, outspoken man, he often spoke with-
out discretion, on subjects which he had not suf-
ficiently examined. Noble lords and commoners
not distinguished for a tolerant spirit, declared
that decided steps ought to be taken to put down
these novel practices and this unorthodox teach-
ing. But the clergy dealt tenderly with Latimer,
who was a general favourite. He was called upon to
recant, and, on his refusal to do so, he was committed
for contempt of court, and declared contumacious.
Being declared excommunicated, he was delivered to
the custody of the archbishop. When a prisoner was
committed to the custody of some great man made
responsible for his safe keeping, the captive was per-
mitted to associate with his custodian ; and we may
presume that through the conversation of Archbishop
Warham, Latimer was persuaded, by his recantation,
to enable the archbishop to withdraw his excommuni-
cation pronounced before as a matter of course. At
all events, on the 21st of March, debate took place in
the two houses of convocation ; and it was remarked
that, under certain conditions, Hugh Latimer might be
absolved. The archbishop was not present ; the Bishop

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 401

of London acted as his commissary, and before his
lordship, on the day following, Hugh Latimer knelt
down and submitted himself. He craved forgiveness ;
he acknowledged that he had been in error. "My 1503-32.
lords," he said, —

" I do confess that I have misordered myself very far, in
that I have so presumptuously and boldly preached, reproving
certain things, by which the people that were infirm hath
taken occasion of ill. Wherefore I ask forgiveness of my mis-
behaviour; I will be glad to make amends; and I have
spoken indiscreetly in vehemence of speaking, and have
erred in some things, and in manner have been in a wrong
way (as thus) lacking discretion in many things." *

He humbly asked to be absolved, but his pardon
was not immediately granted. On the 10th of April
the absolution was at length, pronounced ; but it was
not decided whether he should be subject to penance or
what the penance might be. He was directed to be
forthcoming on the 15th of the same month. His ene-
mies had been, in the meantime, active, and before the
appointed day other grounds of complaint were lodged
against him. Another adjournment took place on the
19th. It would seem that Latimer only admitted that
he had been guilty of indiscretion ; but he denied
his having propounded heresy. He was, on a smaller
scale, undergoing a temptation similar to that under
which Cranmer fell. He now appealed to the king.
The friends who advised him to pursue this course
gave wise advice ; they thought that the king would
seize the opportunity to show that the supremacy was
no idle assumption, and that over one of his own
chaplains he could and would throw his segis. But
they were mistaken. The king would see that justice

* Wilkius, iii. 747.
VOL. VI. D D

402 LIVES OF THE

was done to all his lieges ; but he said, that it was for
convocation to decide upon a case of heresy ; and,

mrham. consequently, through the Bishop of Winchester, the

1503-32. king referred the case to convocation.

It was a humiliating episode in the life of a good
and conscientious man, who afterwards died for his
principles. But Latimer himself would have repu-
diated the defence set up for him by some of his
admirers, that, in making his recantation, he was
insincere. We may easily understand how certain
new opinions had commended themselves to his judg-
ment, and how he propounded them in order that he
might provoke discussion ; but these notions had not
as yet become to him a fixed principle. They were
merely opinions, and he would not assert them in
opposition to the great majority of his brethren. But,
whatever his feelings may have been, or however
influenced, Latimer, who had seen what the sufferings
of the stake were, for he had assisted at one execu-
tion, if not more, shrunk from the flames at the present
time. When his appeal to the king had been rejected,
he then knelt down before the convocation, and said,—

"That where he had aforetime confessed that he hath
heretofore erred, and that he meaned then it was onely error
of discretion, he hath since better seen his own acts, aiid
searched them more deeply, and doth knowledge that he hath
not erred only in discretion, but also in doctrine ; and said
that he was not called afore the said lords but upon good and
just ground, and hath been by them charitably and favourably
intreated. And where he had aforetime misreported of the
lords, he knowledgeth, that he hath done ill in it, and desireth
them, humbly on his knees, to forgive him ; and where be is
not of ability to make them recompence, he said he would
pray for them." *

* Wilkins, iii. 748.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 403

After making this submission, Hugh Latimer was,
at the special request of the king, taken again into
favour. Latimer gave his solemn promise that he
would obey the laws and observe the decrees of the
Church. The Bishop of London, lord locum tenens,
absolved him, and restored him to the sacraments.

The archbishop made a point of attending the meet-
ing of convocation on the 12th of April. For his con-
venience the houses were adjourned from St. Paul's
to the Jerusalem Chamber, at Westminster.

He had submitted to the two houses a supplication
from the House of Commons to the king, containing
an attack upon the clergy, to which the king desired
a speedy answer.

It was not an attack upon the bishops, but
upon ordinaries generally ; and, therefore, it was ne-
cessary that the subject should be discussed in the
Lower House of Convocation ; for, infpoint of fact,
there were more ordinaries in the Lower House than
in the higher.

Of the discussions we possess no record ; but we
have the result in an able reply to the commons,
which is remarkable for the ability with which it was
drawn up ; as might be expected, when we are told
that the real author of it was no less a person than
Bishop Gardyner. Gardyner admits, indeed, that he
was no divine, but he was certainly one of the ablest
lawyers of the day, and it is to law that the suppli-
cation chiefly refers. He said that they, the ordinaries,*

f "Wilkins, iii 751. A transcript of what is entitled the answer
of the ordinaries is to be found at the Rolls House. A portion of
it, ex Eegistr. Cantuar. is printed in "Wilkins, iii. 750. According
to Hall, the commons began to complain of those grievances where-
with the spiritualty had oppressed them, soon after the meeting of
parliament in 1529 ; but the journals of the House of Lords agree

DD2

404 LIVES OF THE

-CHAP, had perused the supplication in which complaint
— .-L., was made by the commons, zealous against heresy,
" that much discord, variance, and debate had arisen

1503-32. among the king's subjects, spiritual and temporal, in
his grace's Catholic realm, as well as through new fan-
tastical and erroneous opinions, grown by occasion of
seditious and overthwart-framed books compiled, im-
printed, and made in the English tongue in parts
beyond sea, contrary and against the very true Catholic
and Christian faith, as also by the uncharitable dealing
and behaviour of divers ordinaries, their commissioners
and substitutes in the concern, and often vexation of
the kiog's said subjects in the spiritual courts, and
also by other evil examples and misuses of spiritual
persons/'

To such an assertion as this there could be but
one answer, and that a simple contradiction. This
contradiction is given in a passage of considerable
eloquence, and with a display of moderation and good
temper. It is admitted, " that there may be evildoers
among the clergy, but the king is entreated not to
draw an unfavourable conclusion against the whole
body from the circumstance of there being a few delin-
quents. Although the ordinaries perceived and knew
right well that there was as great a number of well-
disposed men in the commons as ever they knew in
any parliament, yet they were not ignorant of the
sinister informations and importune labours and evil

•with the registers of convocation, showing that the supplication was
not presented till 1532. Of the ability displayed in the reply of
the ordinaries, one of the most learned lawyers of the present day
has expressed his admiration. The reader will observe that the
answer is described as that of the ordinaries, not of the bishops, as
Presbyterian writers have given it. The subject is mentioned in a
preceding note.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 405

persuasions of evil disposed persons, pretending a zeal CHAP.
for justice and reformation, by whom some right wise ^^
sad and constant men were persuaded to receive as 3il!iam

x >\ arhain.

true what was not really the case.'' 1503-3-2.

The reader of these volumes has before him a suf-
ficient number of facts to enable him to form his own
conclusions on the real merits of the case. We have
always, in history, to steer our way between the two
extremes, by which each case is overstated. If we may
judge from the conduct towards an accused person
sometimes exhibited on the bench by no less a person
than Sir Edward Coke, and the gross temper evinced
by Bishop Bonner when he sat in judgment upon
heretics, we should not be surprised, as the ordinaries
were willing to admit, that instances might be produced
in which judges were provoked to indecent behaviour
on the bench ; yet we may concede that, generally
speaking, the ordinaries could be borne out in their
contradiction of the specific charges brought against
them by the commons. At the same time, we have
seen that a low class of clergy existed, whom we can
only describe by recource to phraseology from the
adoption of which we should shrink, if it were not
necessary to adopt the vulgar language to describe the
conduct of which the vulgarly vicious alone were guilty.
We have spoken of clergy who, in fact, were petti-
fogging attornies touting for business. They would
watch for any expression which might receive an
heretical interpretation, and would demand a bribe to
;in from prosecution, or if the prosecution ensued,
resort to that bullying process which minds of the
same stamp as that of Bonner would mistake for wit.
We doubt not, that it was part of that system which
made the consistory and other ecclesiastical court <
perfectly odious.

406 LIVES OP THE

CHAP. It was natural that the commons, in their com-
—7-— plaint, should pass from the inferior court to the great
Warham. court of convocation. It was complained, that laws were
1503-32. made in convocation not in harmony with the statute
laws of the realm, touching on temporal affairs, inde-
pendently of parliamentary or even of royal sanction.
These laws encroached in some instances on the royal
prerogative ; the infringers of them were made not only
to incur thetterrible sentence of excommunication, but
also "the detestable crime and sin of heresy;" they
bore with peculiar hardship on some of the humbler
classes, causing them great trouble and inquietude.

To this charge the reply was, that since the temporal
and the ecclesiastical legislators agreed in holding that
their authority to make laws was grounded upon the
Scripture of God and determination of holy Church,
the ordinaries felt convinced that if the laws were
sincerely interpreted, no contrariety or repugnancy
between them would be found to exist ; but that, with
regard to the laws of the realm and the canons of the
Church, the one would be found aiding, maintaining,
and supporting the other. The ordinaries, speaking
in the name of the convocation, added, "If it shall
otherwise appear, as it is our duty, whereunto we shall
always most diligently apply ourselves, to reform our
ordinaries to God's commission, and to conform our
statutes and laws, and those of our predecessors, to the
determination of Scripture and holy Church, so we hope
in God, and shall daily pray for the same, that your
highness will if there appear cause why, with the
consent of your people, temper your grace's laws
accordingly ; whereby shall ensue a most sure and
perfect cognition and agreement, as God being A^/.s
anyularis, to agree and enjoin the same." As the con-
stitution then stood, the parliament was to legislate for

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 407

the country in things temporal, the convocation in
things spiritual. The convocation had been accused
of encroaching upon the rights of parliament, and to
the charge brought against the clergy they had given
their answer. But more than this was now demanded
of them ; in that which was acknowledged to be their
own sphere of duty, they were required to submit to
the king, and not to enact canons without the royal
assent. Here, without receding from those rights,
which they believed to be inherent in their ofEce, the
clergy humbly desired that, " as had been done hereto-
fore, so henceforth the king would show to them his
mind and opinion, and what his high wisdom should
think convenient, that they would gladly hear and
follow, if it should please God to inspire them so to
do, with all submission of humility." They besought
the king to tread in the steps of his progenitors, and
to maintain and defend such laws and ordinances, as
they according to their calling and by the authority of
God shall for His honour make, to the edification of
virtue and maintaining of Christ's faith, whereof they
said, "your highness is defender in name, and hath
been hitherto in deed a special protector."

As to the charge that convocation had attempted to
invade the royal prerogative, they were content to
leave their cause in the king's hands, and prayed that
he, being so highly learned, would of his own most
bounteous goodness " facilly discharge and deliver them
from that charge, when it should appear that the laws
made by them or their predecessors were conformable
and maintainable by the Scripture of God and deter-
mination of the Church, against which no laws can
stand or take effect.

Here was a king seeking to make himself a despot,
who had bribed or intimidated his parliament to regard

408 LIVES OF THE

CHAR his will as law, bravely resisted when endeavouring to
^-^ violate the rights with which the constitution had
wlrham vested the convocation of the clergy. They who are
1503-32. really the opponents of despotism will admire the
spirit with which Henry was opposed in his attempt
to place himself above all law whether of God or
man ; even though the opponents were neither men
nor women, but only the clergy. The tendency of the
age, however, was to invest a single man with despotic
power, and to elevate him who, according to the old
custom, had been the foremost and first in a nation, to
the position of a Caesar. In every country in Europe
the attempt was made, and in some cases with suc-
cess ; our liberties were regained under the Stuarts,
but they were nearly lost under the Tudors. Detest-
ing a spirit of tyranny in every one, from the monarch
on his throne to the most despicable member of the
Lower House of Parliament, we cannot but sympathise
even with a Garclyner, when we find him resisting the
aggressions of a monarch on the rights of the subject.
Henry VIII. was extremely indignant at the reply
of the ordinaries, and resumed his attack by expressing
his displeasure against Gardyner, the supposed author
of the offensive document. Gardyner had probably
expected, with the Duke of Norfolk, to share the coun-
sels of the king on the fall of "Wolsey. But Crumwell,
though not ostensibly in office, and treated with either
condescension or contempt by the courtiers, had already
obtained the ear of the king, and it was part of his
policy to bring Gardyner into discredit with his royal
master. Gardyner was put upon his defence, and his
letter of exculpation is still extant. It is curious to
find a bishop palliating his conduct, if he were proved
to be in error, on the ground that he was not learned
in divinity ; but, while expressing his readiness to

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 409

yield to any proofs whicli the king, as a divine, might CHAP.
produce, he refers to Henry's zeal against both Luther ^^
and Wir-lif, and then reiterates the assertions made in ^m,iam

' \\ arnam.

the public document* 1503-32.

The king, in placing the answer of the ordinaries in
the hands of the Speaker of the House of Commons,
said, " We think this answer will scantly please you,
for it seemeth to us very slender." He thus encou-
raged the House of Commons to continue its contro-
. with the Convocation, and concluded by saying,
" You be a great sort of wise men : I doubt not you
will look circumspectly in the matter, and that it will
be indifferent between you."

The whole subject was brought again for discussion
before the convocation, which met on the 29th of
April, 1532. The debates continued till the 6th of
May. Although on some occasions the Bishop of
London acted as the archbishop's commissary, yet on
a reference to the acts of convocation I find that the
archbishop was able generally to attend.

The difficulty of coming to a conclusion was great,
on account of the different opinions prevalent in dif-
ferent sections of the convocation ; they can hardly
be called parties, for there were no leaders, neither
was there combined action either for or against the
Government. There were certainly many persons in
convocation who, like Cranmer, were ready to support
the king, whatever the royal determination might be ;
with thrsi:- acted generally another party who discussed
every measure on its own merits, but who represented
the old Anglican and anti-papal feeling ; there was a
party alarmed at the progress of Lutheranism, and
having little confidence in the king, who were ready to

* Wilkiiis, iii. 752 : Atterbury, Append, vi. -.<.

410 LIVES OF THE

throw themselves at the feet of the pope, and to yield
to all the papal demands in return for papal pro-
Action. Wolsey's party, indeed, had split into two
1503-32. sections : some of his adherents would like to see the
legatine power revived ; while others, seeing this to be
impossible, were prepared, like Crumwell, to abet the
Protestants, without becoming Protestants themselves.
The king's friends said, " Make everything over to the
king ;" the other party felt that the king, supported by
parliament, was all-powerful, and that, although they
would have to yield, they might fight the battle inch
by inch, and save what they could. All were agreed,
whether in parliament or in convocation, as to the
duty of opposing Lutheranism and Lollardism, and of
suppressing heresy.

When the 6th of May arrived, and nothing had been
done, the Upper House of Convocation desired the Lower
House to prepare a new reply to the supplication of the
commons, and by a committee a new document was
drawn up, which was presented to the lords on Monday,
the 8th of May. "It is a paper/' says Atterbury,
" drawn up with great spirit and firmness ; " he attri-
butes it, from internal evidence, to an author not the
same as he by whom the former document was penned.
It is manfully contended, that the prelates of the
Church have authority to legislate freely in what per-
tains to faith and to good manners, necessary to the
soul's health of their flocks. They establish their
position by reference to Scripture, to history, and to
the king's own book, "most excellently written
against Martin Luther for the defence of the Catholic
faith and Christ's Church, in which he doth not only
knowledge and confess, but also with most vehement
and inexpugnable reasons and authorities doth defend
the same."

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 411

Yet, these considerations notwithstanding, they were CHAP.
content to promise, with reference to new laws, that - — .^
they would not publish or put forth any constitutions ^Vrham.
without his highness's consent, except those which con- 1503-32.
cern the maintenance of faith and morals, and the
reformation and correction of sin. As regards the old
laws made either by them or by their predecessors, as
it is pretended, contrary to the laws of the realm or
the prerogative of the crown, they would engage to
revoke and annul them, so that " your right honour-
able commons shall now dare execute your laws without
fear or dread of our said laws, if any such there be."*

The answer, drawn up by the Lower House of Convo-
cation, was submitted to the Upper House. It received
the sanction of their lordships, and a committee was
formed consisting of the bishops of London and Lincoln,
the abbots of Westminster and Burton, together with
Sampson, dean of the chapel, and Fox, the almoner, to
carry the answer to the king. They were directed to
be instant with the king that he would preserve and
protect the liberties and immunities of his clergy as
his noble ancestors had done.

Convocation reassembled on the 10th of May to
receive the report of the committee. They had to
state that the king was not satisfied with the amended
form of reply, and Fox, the almoner, submitted to the
Convocation a document, with nothing less than which,
he said, his majesty would be content. It was the
result of the interview with the king, and ran thus :

" 1 . That no constitution or ordinance shall be hereafter by
the clergy enacted, proniulgecl, or put in execution, unless
the king's highness do approve the same by his high

* Ex. MS. Cott. Cleop. F. 1. fol. 101, printed in Wilkins,
iii. 753.

412 LIVES OF THE

authority and royal assent ; and his advice and favour be also
interposed for the execution of every such constitution among
William his highness's subjects. 2. That whereas divers of the consti-
Warlmm. tutions provincial, which have been heretofore enacted, be

1503—32

thought not only much prejudicial to the king's prerogative
royal, but also much onerous to his highness's subjects, it be
committed to the examination and judgment of thirty-two
persons, whereof sixteen to be of the Upper and Nether House
of the temporality, and other sixteen of the clergy, all to be
appointed by the king's highness ; so that, finally, whichsoever
of the said constitutions shall be thought and determined by
the most part of |the said thirty-two persons worthy to be
abrogate and annulled, the same to be afterward taken away,
and to be of no force and strength. 3. That all other of the
said constitutions, which stand with God's law and the king's,
to stand in full strength and power, the king's highness's royal
assent given to the same." *

It now became evident, that the king would accept
of no compromise or modification of the terms : the
convocation must surrender at discretion. He was
supported by the House of Commons, and if not by a
majority, yet by a considerable number among the
members of convocation. Fox was directed to present
the articles to convocation, not for discussion, but for
acceptance and subscription ; long debates, however,
ensued. For the convenience of the archbishop the
convocation still sat at Westminster ; but, having no
regular place of meeting they were dependent upon
the courtesy of the abbot and monks of Westminster.
They had to adjourn from St. Catherine's chapel to
St. Dun stan's, an adjournment which makes some of
the Puritan historians merry, though, from what ap-
pears, the members of the convocation were preparing
•not to invoke a dead bishop, but to consult a living
one. A committee was appointed to seek the advice

* Acts of Convocation, Atterbury, 89 ; Wilkins, iii. 749.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 413

of Fisher, bishop of Eochester, who, for some reason or CHAP.
other, was unable to attend convocation personally. — L,
What his advice was we do not know. The king was -J^Jj^
impatient : he began to talk of a divided allegiance, 1503-32.
and an iinpcriu'in in imperio. He courted the
commons.

The convocation reassembled on Monday, the 13th
of May. The archbishop presented the three articles
to the Upper House. The house assented to the king's
terms on the first article, that without the royal
licence they would frame no new canons. In the
Lower House an amendment was moved and carried, to
the effect that the concession here made should be
confined to the term of the king's natural life. With
respect to the proposal, that there should be a com-
mission of thirty-two persons for a revision of the
ancient canons, to this neither house would agree.
They were willing, however, to submit to the judgment
of the king himself : they were willing to moderate and*
aDnul them at his suggestion, but by their own eccle-
siastical authority.

There was now an inclination on both sides to
recede from the assertion of extreme principles. The
king appointed six noblemen to hold a conference
with the Upper House of Convocation ; and they were
men who were by no means hostile to the Church, the
Duke of Norfolk being at the head. The Upper House
of Convocation could not be persuaded to submit to
the terms proposed with reference to a revision of the
old canons, and the committee of noblemen had to
report to the king that, let the consequence be what
it might, this was the final resolution of the clergy.

While the conference was going on in the Upper
House, there was a debate in the Lower House of
Convocation. Here, at length, the clergy agreed by a

414 LIVES OP THE

considerable majority to accept the proposal of the
king without modification, or any alteration what-

\Villiam pvp
Warham. 6Ver'

1503-32. The archbishop and the Upper House were waiting
in some anxiety to know how their resolution would
be taken by the king, when the prolocutor came up
with the resolution of the Lower House, admitting the
wlwlv terms proposed by the king. Warham desired
the lower clergy to retire to their own house, and
there wait until they were summoned to hear the
king's pleasure.

At noon the answer came. It caused the greatest
satisfaction, for it terminated an unpleasant controversy.
The king would consent to the submission of the
clergy, without the terms which gave such reasonable
offence to the prelates. He would be satisfied if they
promised not to enact, promulge, or put in use new
canons without the royal licence.

A new draft of the submission was now engrossed,
and on Thursday, the 16th of May, 1532, it was pre-
sented by the Archbishop of Canterbury to the king.*
The form was as follows : —

" We, your most humble subjects, daily orators, and beads-
men, of your clergy of England, having our special trust and
confidence in your most excellent wisdom, your princely good-
ness, and fervent zeal, to the promotion of God's honour and the
Christian religion, and also in your learning, far exceeding in
our judgment the learning of all other kings and princes that

* See Wilkins, iii. 739, 746, 748, 749, 755. See also Wake,
476, 477, 545, 546 ; Atterbury, 84, 90, 521, 528, 535—548 ;
Append, to Collier, xix. xx. ; Strype's Memoir, 1, i. 198, 209 ;
Fiddes, 524. It is to be remembered that two years elapsed
before this submission, passed in convocation, was confirmed and
enforced by act of parliament. The act bound the clergy to the
performance of the promise contained in their submission.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 415

•we have read of, and doubting nothing but that the same shall CHAP,
still continue and daily increase in your majesty, first do offer
and promise in vcrbo sacfnlotii here unto your highnesss, sub- "William
mitting ourselves most humbly to the same, that \ve will never ^ arham.
from henceforth enact, put in use, promulge, or execute any 1503~32-
new canons or contitutions provincial, or any other new
ordinance, provincial or synodal, in our convocations or
synods, in time coming, which convocation is, alway hath
been, and must be assembled only by your high command-
ment of writ, only your highness, by your royal assent, shall
license us to assemble our convocation, and to make, promulge,
and execute such constitutions, ordinaments, and canons pro-
vincial or synodal, which have been heretofore enacted, but
thought to be not only much prejudicial to your prerogative
royal, but also overmuch onerous to your highness's subjects ;
your clergy aforesaid are contented, if it may stand so with
your highness's pleasure, that it be committed to the examina-
tion and judgment of your grace, and of thirty-two persons,
whereof sixteen to be of the Upper and Nether House of the
temporalty and other sixteen of the clergy, all to be chosen
and appointed by your most noble grace. So that finally,
whichsoever of the said constitutions, ordinameuts, or canons
provincial or synodal shall be thought and determined by your
grace and by the most part of the said xxxii persons, not to
stand with God's laws and the laws of your realm, the same
to be abrogated and taken away by your grace and the clergy.
And such of them as shall be seen by your grace and by the
most part of the said thirty-two persons to stand with
God's laws and the laws of your realm, to stand in full
strength and power, your grace's most royal assent and
authority once impetrate fully given to the same."

AVe have now brought to a conclusion the public life
of A\ illiam Warharn. In his primacy, the Keformation
commenced in the reassertion of the royal supremacy,
and the submission of the clergy.* These two great

* The submission of the clergy was agreed to on Wednesday,
the 15th of May, 1532. The Clergy Submission Act was passed
in parliament in the spring of 1534.

416 LIVES OF THE

objects were effected in convocation, some time an-
tecedently to their adoption by parliament.

^ was not *^ two years *ater' ^e 31st °f ^arch,
1503-32. 1534, that convocation, again in advance of par-
liament, decreed that "the Pope of Kome has no
greater jurisdiction conferred on him by God, in holy
Scripture, in this kingdom of England, than any
other foreign bishop."*

Whether Warham would have consented to the
latter proposition is more than doubtful ; though revul-
sions of feeling and renunciations of opinions are rapid
and unexpected in a revolutionary age. It may be
doubted whether Henry VIII. would have rejected
the pope in 1532, in the terms used by convocation
in 1534.

There exists on Warham's part, a protest to
the effect, that he neither intended to consent, nor
with a clear conscience could consent, to any statute
passed, or hereafter to be passed, in the parliament of
1529, derogatory to the rights of the apostolic see,
or to the subversion of the laws, privileges, preroga-
tives, pre-eminence, or liberties of the metropolitan
Church of Canterbury, f

The reader who does not come new to this subject,
but has, through these volumes, traced the history of
religious opinion in the Church of England, will easily
understand the position of Warham, and will perceive
that there was no inconsistency between his protest
and his acts.

The Church of England, as an independent national
Church, possessed certain rights, certain laws, privileges,
prerogatives, pre-eminence: the King of England

* Wilkins, iii. 769 ; Heylin, 7.

t The original is to be found in the Longueville MSS. in the
possession of Lord Calthorpe. It is printed by Wilkins, iii. 746.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 417

possessed certain rights and authority within this CHAP.

province, and in regard to both the provinces, the

entire Church of England: the Bishop of Eome,

until the year 1534, possessed certain rights in this 1503-32.

realm of England, undefined and undefinable, and the

cause in consequence of continual disputes. There

was no inconsistency in saying, " While we assert

the just rights of the Church of Canterbury, we

do not intend to encroach on the royal prerogative ;

while we admit the prerogatives of the king, we do

not deny that the Bishop of Eome," — the term applied

at that time to the pope, — "has also certain rights ;

but where there is any doubt upon the subject, we seek

an adjustment."

It had been discovered that the kings of England,
almost until the reign of Henry VIII, had claimed and
exercised a supremacy over all persons and causes
within their dominions. Warham was persuaded upon
this point and acted accordingly : " but," he added,
"though I concede to the king the prerogative he claims,
yet I do so with a full understanding, that this is
consistent with my maintaining the privileges of my
Church of Canterbury, and any jurisdiction that the
Bishop of Kome may legally possess." It was said, that
the clergy by their canons and constitutions and the
independent legislation of the two houses of convo-
cation, had encroached on the royal prerogative. War-
ham was persuaded, that this was the case, and urged
convocation to submit to the principles laid down by
the kino- for their future government : but in orantino-

o y o o

to the king what he considered his right, he protested
that against king and pope he would maintain, in
consistency with the other rights, the liberties of the
Church of England.

Soon after Warham's death it was discovered that the

VOL. VT. E E

418 LIVES OF THE

Bishop of Rome had no divine right in England, and
the jurisdiction he sought to exercise, being a usur-
Pa^on' was ^7 ^is Church and realm rejected.
1503-32. Whether Warham would have been open to convic-
tion on this point can never be known. But certainly
his was a candid mind, and his tendency was to yield
to persons of stronger will than his own. Perhaps
some readers will be of opinion, that his protest would
not have prevented his acting with the king's govern-
ment, when the time came for asserting that, while the
prerogatives of the crown were greater than he had
supposed, for the pretensions of the pope there was
no foundation in Scripture.

There is a letter from Warham to the king about
his courts, to which it is difficult to assign the date.
When Warham commenced his primacy, he desired
to reform the ecclesiastical courts : finding the diffi-
culty of cleaning the Augean stable, he permitted the
legatine authority to be established : the Hercules
whose aid he invoked perished without completing
the work which proved to be beyond his strength ;
but confusion had ensued, and the king's courts
were in consequence assuming the jurisdiction which
Warham had yielded, as a temporary arrangement,
to the legatine court. Against this proceeding, it is
said, that he appealed to the king.*

It has been seen that, throughout the controversy
between the king and the convocation, Warham,
though acting as a moderator, was on the king's side.
With the king he grew into favour, and the archbishop
had frequently the honour of receiving his sovereign at
Knowle.

* The letter is given in Collier, iv. 199. Its authenticity may
be questioned.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 419

On the questionable authority of Harpsfield, War- CHAP.
ham is said to have predicted that Cranmer would be ___
his successor in the see of Canterbury. In noticing -^^j
this report, I would observe on its extreme improba- 1503-32.
bility. Dr. Cranmer was probably brought under the
notice of the archbishop as a lawyer who had sug-
gested a mode to be pursued for the accomplishment
of the king's wishes in regard to the divorce. But
before "Warham's death Cranmer and Cmrnwell had
scarcely emerged from obscurity. They had obtained
a place at court, but courtiers of the old school hardly
thought them worthy of notice. They had won the
king's ear before their power was known. There was
one man who seemed to be marked out for the
primacy, Bishop Gardyner, who never forgot or for-
gave the slight which was passed upon him when he
was overlooked and a new man was placed on the
throne which he had regarded as his own.

In August, the archbishop, who had bravely per-
formed the duties of his high office through the stormy
debates of convocation, retired into the country, and
visited his nephew, Archdeacon Warham, at St.
Stephen's, near Canterbury. He went there to give
final directions as to his tomb prepared for the recep-
tion of his corpse in a chapel which he had built in the
Martyrdom. Travelling in those days, whether on
horseback or in a litter, was not to be undertaken by
an old man without danger. The archbishop was
much fatigued by his journey. His debility increased ;
he was confined to his bed ; he was preparing for
his great change. He summoned his steward to his
bedside, intending to give directions as to the disposal
of his property. He had been generous and munifi-
cent, aud when he inquired what money remained
in his coffers, he was told thirty pounds. The good

E E 2

420 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, old man smiled. He, was not likely to see another
_-^_ rent day. He said, "Satis viatici ad ccelum."
Warham. ^he splendours of his enthronization, we may sup-
1503-32. pose, passed before his mind, and he certainly felt as
old men feel, " Vanity of vanities, all is vanity."

Between the hours of two or three, on the 22d day
, of August, 1532, William Warham expired;* and
soon after, the event was announced to the Church by
the tolling of the great bell of the cathedral.

The body was conveyed to the church of St.
Stephen's. Here it lay in state. In the gloved hand
was placed the cross of Canterbury ; a magnificent
pall was laid upon the corpse ; lights were burning
at the head and at the feet. The chaplains inces-
santly chanted the psalms.

The cathedral was, in the meantime, prepared for
the obsequies, and everything was ready for the cere-
monial by the 9th of September. On that day, at
two o'clock in the afternoon, the body was placed
in the nave.

On Thursday, the 10th, the cathedral was filled
by a multitude attracted by piety, by gratitude, by
curiosity. Mass was said ; a sermon was preached ;
the religious rites were duly performed.

An adjournment took place to the palace, where
the archbishop's character for hospitality was sustained
to the last. A repast was prepared for all invited
guests ; but a repast in those days was not confined
to the invited guests within the hall. The crowd
outside asserted their right to appropriate whatever

* See the certificate in the Heralds' Office. Professor Stubbs
gives the 23d as the date of his death from the Kegister. He died
at St. Stephen's, and his death was not known in Lambeth until
the 23d.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 421

they could lay hands on. A general scramble was CHAP.
the consequence, and, though the noise was at the ^^
time subdued, it was scarcely possible to suppress -J^iiSm
the excitement and quarrels which a scramble implies. 1503-32.

This diversion was intended to clear the church of the
mob. When the multitude was dispersed, the body of
the defunct archbishop was raised, and in deep silence
it was carried to the Martyrdom. There was no
religious office performed while the corpse of William
Warham was placed in the sepulchre he had himself
prepared for it. The members of the archbishop's
household, and his officers of state stood around, their
occupation done ; one by one each approached the
coffin, and breaking his staff cast it into the grave.
The silence was at length broken by the herald, who
proclaimed the style and title of the deceased.

All things being done decently and in order, every
man, we are told, went to the palace, where again a
sumptuous dinner was prepared.*

Of the archbishop's benefactions to Winchester, New
College, and All Souls', mention has already been
made. His theological books went to All Souls'
College library ; his canon law books, with the
prick song books belonging to his chapel, to New
College ; his lectionaries, grayles, and antiphonals to
Winchester College.

* A certificate in the Heralds' College Office, London, printed in
the Athenas Oxoniensis.

422

LIVES OF THE

CHAPTER III.

THOMAS CRANMER/

CHAP.
III.

Thomas
Cranmer.
1533-56.

Preliminary Observations. — Cranmer opposed to Protestantism in early
Life. — Parentage and Birth. — His early Education. — Sent to Cambridge.
— Is elected a Fellow of Jesns. — His first Marriage. — His Life at the
Dolphin. — Appointed Reader of Buckingham College. — Becomes a
Widower, and is restored to his Fellowship. — Whether he was offered
Promotion in Wolsey's College at Oxford doubtful. — Proceeds to the
Degree of D.D. — Does not distinguish himself at the University — Dis-
charges the routine Duties of a Master of Arts and a Doctor. — Becomes
Tutor to Mr. Cressy's Children. — Introduction to Henry "VIII. — The
Divorce Case. — Cranmer sent with Embassy to Rome, to plead the
King's Cause. — He is favourably received by the Papal Authorities. —
The Pope confers upon him the Office of Grand Penitentiary of England.
— Opinions of the Universities on the Divorce Case. — Cranmer returns to
England. — His Opinion of Pole's Letter on the Divorce. — He defends
Persecution of Heretics. — Ambassador to the Emperor. — Unsuccessful
Negotiation. — He lingers in Germany. — Has little Intercourse with the
Lutherans. — Falls in love with Osiander's Niece, and contracts a
second Marriage. — Appointed by the King Archbishop of Canterbury. —
Sincere in his Reluctance to accept the Office. — Is consecrated. — His
Enthronization. — Convocation. — The King secretly married to Ann
Boleyn. — Cranmer pronounces the Nullity of the King's Marriage with
Queen Katherine. — Cranmer's description of Queen Ann's Coronation.
— Indignation of the Public against the King and the Archbishop. —
Harsh Measures of Cranmer. — He silences the Pulpits. — Recurrence to
the History of the Nun of Kent. — Cranmer protected by Military Force
at bis Visitation. — His provincial Visitation. — Opposed by the Bishops
of Winchester and London. — Legislative Enactments. — Election of
Bishops. — Archbishop invested with power to grant Dispensations
hitherto granted by the Pope. — Suffragan Bishops. — Protestant Perse-
cutors.— Legal Murder of More and Fisher. — Archbishop's Retirement.
— Trial of Ann Boleyn. — Unjustifiable Conduct of Cranmer.

INJUSTICE has been done to the character of Cranmer,
and his conduct has been exposed to the censure of

* Authorities. — The life of Cranmer, like the other lives in these
volumes, has been written from original documents, some of which

AKCHB1SHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 423

superficial readers, in consequence of the false posi- CHAP.
tion into which he has been forced by his friends, his — ,-L

Thomas

have only lately teen brought to light. I was careful not to read Cranmer.
any modern writers until the life was completed about two years 1533-56.
ago. In former times, I had been acquainted with the biographies
of Cranmer written by Archdeacon Todd and Mr. Le Bas, both of
whom I had the honour of numbering among my friends. I only re-
membered that, when I read their books, they left on my mind the
impression that they came forward, not as historians, but as ad-
vocates. They each of them held a brief for Cranmer, and, on
renewing my acquaintance with their writings, I found them more
one-sided than I expected. The student is bound, after reading
their books, to have recourse to Dodd and lingard. The fault, how-
ever, is not in the misstatement of facts, but in the inferences which
they deduce from them. It is not my business to enter into con-
troversy with any modern writers. I simply state the facts as I
find them, and I endeavour to discover the principles on which
they rest. Tracing the origin and progress of our Reformation to
the overruling Providence of God, and not, as I have shown in
the introductory chapter, to any meritorious action on the part of
man, I am not under a temptation to extenuate the faults of re-
formers, or to overlook the virtues of their opponents. The work
of God is equally effected by the perverseness of a Pharaoh and
the willingness of a Paul Men, as persons, may be rewarded
or punished ; as things, whether willingly or otherwise, they will
be compelled to act as God pleased. Most of the important docu-
ments relating to Cranmer, as well as his own writings, have been
printed. The Remains of Thomas Cranmer have been edited
by Dr. Jenkyns. They have been carefully reprinted, collated,
and compared with the originals, for the Parker Society, by the
Rev. E. J. Cox. Scarcely anything worthy of notice relating to
Cranmer has escaped the researches of Dr. Jenkyns, and the glean-
ings and industry of Mr. Cox, if we except a legal document on
the subject of the Divorce, which has been discovered in the
British Museum by Mr. Pocock, who has favoured me with the
perusal of his transcript. I have, of course, searched the State
Papers and ^the Journals of the House of Lords. The Anecdotes
and Character of Archbishop Cranmer, by Ralph Morice, his secre-
tary ; and another contemporary Life and Death of the Archbishop,
have been published by the Camden Society. I believe that Cran-
mer's Commonplaces, said to exist in the British Museum, have not
been printed.

424 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, advocates, and biographers. A general opinion, through
— ^— their misrepresentation of the facts of the case, pre-
Cranmer. vails to the present hour, that Cranmer was born and
1533-56. bred a Protestant ; and a Protestant too of the modern
type. If such had been the case, it were impossible to
acquit him, when to our reprobation he is held up as
a hypocrite. In consigning to the stake the noble-
minded men who, — holding the same principles as he is
himself assumed to have held, — added to their faith the
manliness — which he did not possess — to avow it, he
might well, under such circumstances, be denounced
as the vilest of persecutors and the meanest of man-
kind.

I have no inclination to vindicate the character of
Cranmer, and in his conduct there was much which was
indefensible ; but it is my duty, as an historian, to
guard against the distortion of facts ; while, as Chris-
tians, we are bound to make due allowance for a person
who, in a position, not sought for but forced upon him,
was surrounded with peculiar and unusual difficulties.
The reader must be reminded of the fact, that Cran-
mer was certainly not a Protestant before the com-
mencement of the reign of Edward VI. ; and the ques-
tion may, indeed, be fairly asked, whether, in the
modern acceptation of the term, a Protestant he ever
became.

When first Cranmer appeared as a public character,
although parliament had not yet acknowledged the
royal supremacy, the supremacy had been asserted by
the convocation ; and in the sentence of the convoca-
tion Cranmer acquiesced. The act of convocation, as
Cranmer himself declares, was attributable, not to him,
but to Archbishop Warham, and all that Cranmer did
was, when the principle was once admitted, to carry
it into practice. But the royal supremacy was not at

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 425

this time regarded as inconsistent with the legitimate CHAP.
claims of the papacy. There were two powers exercising __^L,
co-ordinate jurisdiction, and, a misunderstanding hav- J^™^
ing arisen, they required adjustment. The royal supre- 1533-55.
macy was held by Gardyner and Bonner as well as by
Cranmer ; the question between them was not as to
the fact but as to the extent. Cranmer actually went
to Rome to argue the case ; and, so far from being re-
garded as an enemy, he was received with honour, and
was preferred.

When it was found impossible to adjust the respec-
tive jurisdictions, it was declared, first by convocation,
and then by parliament, that the pope hath no more
authority in England than any other foreign bishop.
From this time there was a breach between this
country and the see of Rome ; but Cranmer and Henry,
though antipapists, were not one whit nearer to Luther-
anisni. They both of them rejected the sobriquet
of Protestant, and declared it to be their resolution
to uphold the Catholic faith. Papists were condemned
to the stake, because it was contended, that the asser-
tion of papal supremacy was opposed to Catholicism ;
and to the same stake, for the same reason, because
they were opposed to the Catholic faith, Protestants
were consigned. Cranmer and Henry may have been
in error as to their view of Catholicism, but it was for
this that they contended, and it is only when we bear
this in mind, that we can understand what has given
rise to much sarcastic rhetoric, when historians have
mentioned the fact, that Papists and Protestants were
condemned to death by the same Government. Henry
and Cranmer were neither Papists nor Protestants,
but they professed to be Catholics. Their conduct
in condemning those to death who refused to ac-
cept their definition of Catholicism may have been

426 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, iniquitous ; but, though not justifiable, it is at least

_^L intelligible.

(Snmer ^e rea^ wor^ °^ *ne Reformation was the changing

1533-56. of the Mass into a Communion, as will be hereafter
shown, and this involved the dogma of transubstan-
tiation. This dogma, in its acceptance or rejection,
became the test of the two parties. It is not to be
supposed that many could understand the merits of the
case, so far as the dogma was itself concerned ; but as
men can fight and die for the flag which is carried in
front of a regiment, because it tells of the side to which
they belong, so, by asserting or denying the dogma,
they proclaimed themselves Papists or Protestants.
Henry VII. was dead before Cranmer renounced
transubstantiation, and, until he did this, it is a mis-
take to speak of him as a Protestant.

The Cranmers or Cranmars* had been settled in
Nottinghamshire from early Norman times. Through
the marriage of Edward, the great-grandfather of the
future archbishop, with the heiress of Aslacton in the
parish of Whatton, they assumed, at the close of the
fourteenth century, a respectable position in society.
They ranked with the rising class of country gentlemen.
The retainer who had become a farmer, grew into a
yeoman ; the yeoman bore arms and became a country
gentleman, from whose younger sons the professions
were replenished.

At Aslacton, on the 2d of July, 1484, was born
Thomas Cranmer, predestined to be the sixty-eighth
Archbishop of Canterbury. He was the second son of
a father bearing the same Christian name as himself.
He had two brothers and four sisters.

* The surname of Cranmer, written with his own hand, occurs, I
believe, only once in the documents bearing upon his history. In his
letter to the Earl of Wiltshire, in 1531, he signs himself Cranmar.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 427

Thomas Cranmer was unfortunate in his early edu- CHAF.

in.
cation. When we take into consideration the charac- . — ^

ter of the man, there is something affecting in the c^^er.
statement he gives of the treatment he received when 1533-56.
a boy. The boy was " cowed and crushed," and from
this early " cowing," it is long, if ever, before a youth
rises to that manliness of character which is ranked,
among Christian dispositions, next to faith. Speaking
of Cranmer, Ealph Morice, his secretary, says, " that
his father sent him to school with a marvellous severe
and cruel schoolmaster, whose tyranny towards youth
was such, that, as he thought, the said schoolmaster so
appalled, dulled and daunted the tender and fine wits
of his scholars that they more commonly hated and
abhorred good literature than favoured or embraced
the same : whose memories were also thereby so muti-
lated and wounded that for his part he lost much of
that benefit of memory and audacity in his youth that
by nature was given him, which he could never recover,
as he divers times reported." *

The injurious effects of this treatment were partially

* Morice, Anecdotes of Archbishop Cranmer, 239. The pas-
sage is important as throwing light on Cranmer's character, although
I have not seen it noticed by any modern biographer. Some
curious instances of the severity of masters are given in Knight's
Colet, and in the Letters of Erasmus. Cranmer would not perhaps
have fared better at Eton. The verses of Thomas Tusser, on
Nicholas Udall, schoolmaster of Eton, have been often quoted : —

" From Paul's I went to Eton, sent
To learn straightways the Latin phrase,
Where fifty-three stripes given to me
At once I had.

" For fault but small, or none at all,
It came to pass, thus beat I was,
See, Udall, see the mercy of thee,

To me, poor lad."

428 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, counteracted in the case of Cramner, by the field sports,
— v-L —"the civil and gentlemanlike exercises," as Morice
Cranmer. ca^s tnem> — m which, encouraged by his father, the
1533-56. boy excelled. Throughout his life, in the intervals of
business, Thomas would follow hawk and hound, and
although short-sighted he could take a good aim with
the long bow. When he became Archbishop of Can-
terbury, the game was carefully preserved on his
manors, in order that he might the better enjoy the
sport. He was a bold and skilful horseman, as his
secretary not only tells us with feelings of satisfaction
and pride, but looking back to the days when his
master had become one of the grandees of the nation,
he delighted to remark that, when Primate of All Eng-
land, Cranmer was ever ready to mount the horse
which no groom in his stables could manage.

At the age of fourteen, Thomas Cranmer was sent
by his widowed mother to Cambridge, and there, as a
member of Jesus College, he resided for many years.

In the Life of Warham we have refuted the state-
ment, that the universities at this time were unequal to
meet the requirements of the age. We have the testi-
mony of Erasmus to the superiority of the English uni-
versities, and to the number of learned men by whom
our country was distinguished. Between the extremes
of self-laudation and of self-depreciation by which the
English have been, at all times, distinguished, it is
sometimes difficult to discover the truth ; under the
prevalence of party feeling institutions and persons
are too frequently depreciated. One thing, however,
is remarkable : hitherto the reader will have observed
very little has been said of Cambridge ; that university,
as compared with Oxford, had been in comparative
obscurity. From that obscurity it was now to emerge.
During the early period of the Reformation, during

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 429

the reigns of Henry, Edward, and Elizabeth, the CHAP.

greater number of our distinguished men and great L

reformers emanated from Cambridge, which has J^™^
always maintained a friendly rivalry with her sister 1533-56.
university. We may attribute this, in part, to certain
controversies inimical to learning which took place,
about this time, at Oxford, to which attention has been
already called. The Trojans, though they had their
origin in Cambridge, became tyrannically powerful, for
a time, in Oxford, and the peaceful student retired
to Cambridge. But the pre-eminence of Cambridge is
to be greatly, if not chiefly, attributed to the residence
there of Erasmus, and the munificence of his patron
Bishop Fisher, to whose transcendent virtues and
noble qualities justice, through the party spirit of
Puritans, has never been done. He it was, who
appointed Erasmus to the chair of the Margaret Pro-
fessor ; and so great was Fisher's zeal in the cause of
Greek literature, that in his old age he desired to
place himself under Erasmus as a student of that
language. With the generous assistance of the Lady
Margaret, he did more than any other man in
England to promote the cause of education ; and so
wise and judicious were his measures, that students
in either university are, at the present hour, receiving
food and raiment from funds which his royal mistress
placed at his disposal. Such is the man whom
Puritans too generally love to defame, because he
would not fall down, with the costly sacrifice of
an upright conscience, before His Majesty King
Henry VIII.

In the university there were then, as there have
always been, the industrious, the dissipated, and cer-
tain indolent revellers in literature, distinguishable
from the real and conscientious students.

430 LIVES OF THE

CHAP. The question with which we are concerned relates to
v—v-L the studies and position of Cranmer ; and of Cranmer we
nave nothing to record. For a quarter of a century he

1533-56. was resident in Cambridge — twenty-five years of ex-
citement, of reform, and of progress ; and yet we can
only remark and lament, that among the distinguished
men of the university the name of Cranmer does
not appear. From the deeply interesting letters of
Erasmus we can give the character of many of his
contemporaries ; but, though Cranmer lived almost in
the same street as the great scholar, of Cranmer no
mention is made. Erasmus had occasion to thank
Cranmer, when Cranmer had become Archbishop of
Canterbury, for some favour conferred upon him ;
but no allusion is made to any former intimacy be-
tween them when both had been resident in the same
university.

Cranmer, although, by no means, deficient in scho-
larship, and although he was pre-eminent as a writer
of pure English and as a translator, was never ranked
among the men of learning. He was, however, acute
as a lawyer, and had a thoroughly legal mind. Some
legal documents afterwards drawn up by him have
excited the admiration of modern lawyers. I think,
therefore, that we may conclude that, although he
neglected no branch of study, and chose the Scrip-
tures for his subject when he became a professor or
doctor, he directed his mind chiefly to legal studies,
with a view of making the law his profession. He would
scarcely have married, if he had intended to become an
ecclesiastic. It is true, that after he had become a priest,
Cranmer again fell in love and took unto himself a wife.*

* Dr. Eedman, who was strongly opposed to the marriage of
the clergy, when he was asked in convocation for a legal
opinion on the subject, gave the following as his legal opinion : —

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 431

But it was one thing for a priest, under the influence CHAP.
of a violent passion or strong affection, in spite of the ^-^-L
laws condemning the marriage of the clergy, to make f^°""
the young woman to whom he was attached what the 1533-56.
poor people still call " an honest woman ;" and it was
another thing for a young man commencing his career
in life to adopt a measure which, if discovered, would
have acted as a certain impediment to his preferment.
Having become a Fellow of his college, it would have
been dishonest to have concealed his marriage, and his
marriage young Cranmer did not attempt to conceal.*
He had become a Fellow of his College in 1510 or
1511, and by those who were watching for a vacancy
among the Fellows, Cranmer's marriage would soon
have been discovered, even supposing that a man of
his upright mind could have committed a fraud by
concealing it. He might have cohabited with the
object of his affection if she would have consented to

" I think that although the word of God do exhort and
counsel priests to live in chastity, out of the cumber of the flesh
and the world, that thereby they may the more wholly attend to
their calling, yet the bond of abstaining from marriage doth only
lie upon priests of this realm by reason of canons and constitutions
of the Church and not by any precept of God's word ; as in that
they should be bound by reason of any vow, which, in as far as
my conscience is, priests in this Church of England do not make.
I think that it standeth well with God's word, that a man which
hath been, or is but once married, being otherwise accordingly
qualified, may ' be made a priest.' " — Strype's Memorials, 223.

* The deep degradation of the clergy through the constrained
celibacy of their class, is mentioned by Sir Thomas More. His
words are best given in the Latin : — " Theologus asserebat con-
clusionem famosam cujusdam limpidissimi doctoris, qui fecit ilium
singularissimum librum qui intitulatur Direclorium Concubinari-
orum, plus eum peccare qui unam domi concubinam quam qui
decem foras meretrices haberet ; idque cum ob malum exemplum,
turn ob occasionem saapius peccandi cum ea quae domi sit." — Tho.
Mori, Apologia pro Erasino.

432 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, become his concubine ; but Cranmer's strong sense of
_^_L moral propriety prevented him from adopting such a

Jranmer. COUrSC as this.

1533-56. It is, then, highly probable that Cranmer intended
originally to practise as a lawyer ; that he remained
long at the university to study law and to make the
requisite independence by taking pupils ; that he after-
wards changed his mind, and received holy orders,
when, having to choose a subject upon which to lec-
ture, he selected the Holy Scriptures ; but that before
this time, Erasmus had left Cambridge.

The marriage of Cranmer with an innkeeper's
daughter must have been regarded as a misalliance.
His wife, " Black Joan," was a near relative of the
landlady of the Dolphin Inn. An innkeeper occupied
a respectable position in the social scale. As we see in
the " Canterbury Tales," he mingled on terms of equality
with his guests, and became their companion. In a
monastery, the prior presided at the hospitable board
of the convent ; and the guest, at parting, left, as a
gift to the house, an offering sufficient to meet the
expenses to which he had subjected the community.
When monasteries were less frequent or less hos-
pitable, inns were opened, where payment was made
directly to the innkeeper, and the visitor was at liberty
" to take mine ease." Nevertheless, the innkeeper
still received the visitor as his guest, and at the social
meal " mine host" presided and led the conversation.
This custom still lingered in foreign hotels at the
early part of the present century, and the landlord
presiding at the table d'hdte was often an intelligent,
well-informed, and agreeable companion. Cranmer's
marriage was not regarded as disreputable, for although,
as a matter of course, he forfeited his fellowship, he
found an income to support his wife by accepting the

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 433

appointment of reader or lecturer at Buckingham CHAP.
Hall, a hall which afterwards developed into Mag- ^^L
dalen College. Nevertheless, the family of the young ^^^
squire of Aslacton was not likely to look with a 1533-56.
favourable eye on his alliance with an innkeeper's
niece ; and, although this connexion brought him
into contact with general society, and so was advan-
tageous in the formation of his character, a severe
judge might think the taste questionable of a young
man who, when he might have sat at the feet of
Erasmus, preferred the social comforts provided for
him in his home at the Dolphin.

Whatever may have been, however, the comforts of
the Dolphin, Cranmer was not destined to enjoy them
long. Before the termination of the first year of their
union his wife died in childbirth. The child also died,
and was buried with its mother.

It may be that Cranmer's mind was now first
turned to more serious things, and that he found that
consolation in the sacred volume of which he desired
others to participate by placing a version of it in
every one's hand. His zeal for the promulgation of
Scripture, though shared in by Erasmus and Warham
and Fisher, became such a marked feature in his cha-
racter, that he was suspected of being a Protestant long
before such he really became.

On the death of his wife, Cranmer claimed to be re-
instated in his fellowship ; and the claim was ad-
mitted. His wife had died, before his year of grace was
expired ; and, although the statutes excluded the Mariti,
yet he could prove, that there was no statutable
objection to the Maritati. Disconsolate for the loss of
his wife, he thought that he should never wish to
marry again ; and, without prospect of a family to be
dependent upon his exertions, he determined upon

VOL. VI. F F

434 LIVES OP THE

CHAP, seeking admission into holy orders. Having been

.— v-L. ordained in the year 1523, he soon after proceeded

Cronmer *° the degree of Doctor of Divinity. A Doctor of

1533-56. Divinity, or Professor of Theology, was expected, if he

remained in the university, to give lectures on some

chosen and special subject. Some chose one subject,

some another ; but, as we have seen, in every age there

were many doctors in our universities who made

choice of lecturing on Holy Scripture. There was no

discouragement, it will be remembered, in the mediaeval

Church, of the study of the Bible, — but the Bible as

a whole was to be studied only by the learned few.

The mass of the people were to be satisfied with the

various selections provided for their edification in the

services of the Church and the primers.

About this time Cardinal Wolsey, having suppressed
numerous monasteries, determined to found a college
at Oxford, which in its magnificence was to surpass
any collegiate institution throughout the world. By
those who look out for proof of the high estimation in
which Cranmer was held in his own university, it is
said that, when a selection was made from the most
distinguished men in either university to become
fellows of the new college, Cranmer was one of those
who were chosen, and that he declined, for no assign-
able reason, the lucrative and honourable post.* The
story is problematical, but, if it be true, it is a proof
in addition to those which will be hereafter produced,
of the unambitious character of Cranmer's mind, and

* Strype states this on the authority of Foxe. But it is curious
to observe that the first Canon who became Subdean in 1527 was
Thomas Canner. Wood, Colleges, 422. Foxe was likely enough,
either in carelessness or by design, to mistake the name — to have sup-
posed Canner to be Cranmer, and then to have represented Cranmer
as having refused what in point of fact was never offered to him.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. -435

of his desire to remain in literary retirement. An CHAP.

ITT

ambitious man would not have refused an offer to be ^-^
placed under the eye of the great man, at whose dis- ^^^
posal lay all the best preferments in Church and state, 1533-56.
a generous patron, quick to discern merit and always
ready to reward the labours of men of learning. Be
this as it may, from inclination and from circumstances
Cranmer remained in obscurity. He filled in due
course certain university offices ; and became one of
the public examiners in the Divinity School, and, as
such, he is said to have been severe and strict.

A quarter of a century passed away since Cranmer's
matriculation, and still Dr. Cranmer continued to be
what we should now call a private tutor. He had under
his care two young men who were, through their
mother, related to himself; when, in 1528, the sweat-
ing sickness reappeared in the country, and committed
havoc among the colleges of Cambridge.* The filthy
condition of the towns made each great city little
T than a pest-house ; and the inhabitants, when
they had the means, rushed into the country. Dr.
Cranmer accompanied his pupils to the house of their
father, in the parish of "Walthain. In the neighbour-
hood of Waltham the king had now fixed his abode.
Alarmed at the death of two gentlemen of his privy
chamber and others among his courtiers, who, having
sickened in the morning, were before the sunset
dead men, Henry had wandered from place to place,
his temporary and lonely residence being indicated
by fires lighted day and night, both to purify the
atmosphere and to warn off intruders. But now the
fierceness of the pestilence having abated, and his alarm
being less exaggerated, he was settled at Tytynhanger,
a house belonging to the Abbot of St. Albans.

* For an account of this disease, see Grafton, 412, Hecker, 'I'l'l.

F F 2

436 LIVES OF THE

CHAP. Although public business had been at first suspended,
^-^L, and even the great subject which had occupied the
Cranmer. IQ^^S °f men — tne divorce — had ceased for a time to
1533-56. be discussed, the king now began to direct his atten-
tion to state affairs, and summoned his ministers to
an occasional interview. They were, so to say,
billeted upon the neighbouring monasteries arid
gentlemen's houses. Persons engaged on the king's
business were able to command all services, and to
make themselves at home in every house.

At Mr. Cressy's house, Dr. Cranmer met two great
men, Dr. Gardyner, the Secretary of State, and Dr.
Fox, the Lord High Almoner ; the former historically
known as Bishop Gardyner from his elevation to
the see of "Winchester, — the latter becoming, in course
of time, Bishop of Hereford.* The divorce question
became a subject of conversation, and Dr. Cranmer
freely stated his opinion. Such contradictory state-
ments have been made with reference to Dr. Cranmer's
opinion upon the divorce question, that it is not easy,
at first sight, to understand what his opinion really was.
The view taken by Cranmer appears to me to be
perfectly intelligible, and he adhered to it consistently
from first to last.

All parties were agreed, at that time, (for Ultra-
montanism. as it now prevails, did not then exist,)
that, although the pope could grant a dispensation to
supersede, for a particular occasion and purpose, a law

* I have not hesitated to accept the tradition of the interview
between Cranmer, Gardyner, and Fox at Waltham, because it
appears to be corroborated by circumstantial evidence. Suspicions
of its authenticity have been entertained, under the idea that it
rests only on the authority of Foxe. But this is not the case ; it
is mentioned by Parker, and, more important still, I have found
it^also in Morice, the archbishop's secretary, who says that Gardyner
and Fox lodged with Mr. Cressy.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 487

of the Church, no papal dispensation would extend to CHAP.
a Jaw of God. — —

The question, therefore, to be first decided was .cranmer.
this, — whether the law of God prohibited a marriage 1533-06.
with a deceased brother's wife.

It is sometimes supposed, that Cranmer suggested
that this point should be submitted to the judgment
of the canonists and the universities, but it is almost,
if not quite, certain that this measure had been resolved
upon, some time, before Cranmer came on the scene.*

The question, therefore, now was, what steps should
be taken in the event of the judgment of the canonists
and universities being in the affirmative.

Gardyner, Bonner, and others of that school would
reply, "Clement must be coerced to give a righteous
judgment." AVe have seen in former times, how men
who did not deny the papal prerogative were not, in their
own opinion, acting inconsistently, when they resorted
to threats, and even violence, to have the prerogative
exercised in their favour. Strong language had been
used by Bonner and others in the interviews with
Clement ; even a rupture between the Church of Eng-
land and the see of Rome — a temporary rupture — was
threatened. In modern Italy, we have heard men
cursing their patron saint and even trampling upon
his image, who nevertheless the next moment, would
fall down and worship him, and would certainly aim his
stiletto at a Protestant who should speak of the saint's
nonentity. This illustrates the state of feeling towards
the pope as it existed in the minds of Gardyner and
Fox. They held that the pope ought to decide in favour
of the king, — that he should even be compelled to do

* Cavendish ascribes to Wolsey the suggestion of a reference to
the universities, and he is followed by Fiddes. "Wordsworth, Ecc.
Biog. i. 539 ; Fiddes, Wolsey, 444.

438 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, so ; but, until the papal judgment was officially given,

>— v-L the king might not marry again.

cSnmS. To tne lucid and legal mind of Cranmer, who had

1533-56. no private ends to answer, and who, at that time,
cared neither for king nor pope, the rights of the case
were so clear as to seem to him to be self-evident.

It was not, strictly speaking, a question of divorce,
it was a question simply as to the nullity of the
marriage. If the marriage of Henry with Katherine,
was a marriage contrary to the divine law, it was, in
point of fact, no marriage at all. The parties had lived
together in a state of concubinage. There had been
no sacrament. If there were no marriage at all, then
the king was a bachelor ; if the king was a bachelor
he might marry whom and when he pleased, without
any reference to Kome,* provided it were not within the
forbidden degrees. The fact might be decided by the
ordinary ecclesiastical courts of the national Church.
Let then the canonists and universities declare that
for a man to marry his deceased brother's wife is
contrary to the divine law, let the evidence be pro-
duced, before the ecclesiastical court, that Katherine
had been married to the king's brother — and the
king's cause would be gained. t

This was not a sentence pronounced ex cathedrd, it
was only a private opinion hazarded in the course of
conversation, though it was the opinion of one who

* The statements which have been made of Cranmer's opinion
are complicated and contradictory ; but, after comparing what is
reported on the subject with his conduct, I am convinced that I
have presented the reader with the real state of the case.

f All the disgusting investigation as to the consummation of
marriage bore upon this point. The friends of the queen main-
tained that, the marriage not having been consummated, it was no
marriage at all. If the queen had only been betrothed to the
king's brother, then there was ground for a papal dispensation.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 439

had probably amused himself by reflecting upon a CHAP.
subject which at this period was engrossing the _^~L,
Public mind. ™-r,

\\ lien the party separated, Dr. Cranmer may have 1533-56.
found recreation in following hawk and hound on
Mr. Cressy's domains ; but, whether this was the case
or not, he soon returned to his ordinary pursuits and
to the superintendence of the studies of his pupils.
Of the conversation he thought no more. Although
he may have looked back with satisfaction to the
honour he had received in being admitted to the
society of men so eminent in station, as were the
secretary and almoner of the king, it was with sur-
prise, that, soon after his return home, he received
a summons to wait upon his majesty at Greenwich.

It appeared afterwards that, in the course of some
discussion with the king on the divorce case, the
opinion of Dr. Cranmer was mentioned either by Dr.
Gardyner or by Dr. Fox. Of Cranmer the king had
never heard even the name, but the acuteness of his
judgment was immediately recognised by the quick
sagacity of the king, who exclaimed : " Who is this
Dr. Cranmer ? \\Tiere is he ? Is he still at Waltham ?
Marry," said the king, " I will speak to him : let him
be sent for out of hand. This man, I trow, has got the
right sow by the ear."*

A mandate from Henry VIII. was not to be dis-
obeyed ; and, when Henry was desirous of making a

* This expression induces me to think that the report of this
conversation is substantially correct. No one would invent the
vulgarity of " having the right sow by the ear," and put it into
the king's mouth. But uttered by the king with his usual bon-
homie, and in a manner indicating it to be a quotation, it would
be remembered as a species of witticism. The vulgarity consists,
not in the words used, but in the manner of using them.

440 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, favourable impression, no one could more perfectly act
— ,-L the gentleman. A few civil words uttered by royal
ciranmS ^Ps nave sucn a magic influence on a large class of
1533-56. minds, that royalty ought always to be popular, and
Cranmer's was the kind of mind to be enslaved by
royal condescension and kindness. The king pene-
trated the character of Cranmer at once. He spoke to
him of what he called his conscience ; and, forgetting
that his queen had a conscience 'too, he desired to be
relieved from the burden by which he imagined him-
self to be distressed and perplexed.

He had been informed that Dr. Cranmer had de-
vised a plan by which the king might be extricated
from his difficulties, and he prayed him as a favour
to devote himself to the cause. Cranmer showed some
reluctance to withdraw himself from literary pursuits,
and to become the leading counsel in the lawsuit
— for this in fact was the king's proposal. This is
apparent from the tone which the king now assumed.
" Master doctor," he said, " I pray you, and neverthe-
less, because you are a subject, I charge and command
you, all other business and affairs set apart, to take
some pains to see this my cause to be furthered by
your device, so that I may shortly understand where-
unto I may trust."

Upon Cranmer, as his first task, was now imposed
the duty of placing his argument on paper. He was
enjoined to produce a treatise in which his argument
was to be supported by the authority of holy Scripture,
of the general councils, and of the fathers.

And now might Cranmer truly say,

"A change came o'er the spirit of my dream."

He is no longer writing in a dull cold chamber,
looking out on a duller quadrangle, or in a public

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 441

library, where neither candle nor fire was permitted, CHAP.
but in the splendid library of the Earl of Wiltshire, '

at Durham Place,* looking down upon the great

thoroughfare of London, crowded with boats and 1533-06.

O '

barges of every description and size. The student has
become a courtier. Henry had. reasons of his own for
not lodging him at Greenwich, where, though the
queen still lived, the Lady Ann was the ruler, and
ruled like a despot. He commended the doctor to the
ho.spitality of the lady's father,t the Earl of Wiltshire ;
and of that lady's position in Henry's household no
one had a right to complain, if the arrangements met
with her father's consent, that father not being then
known as one of the basest of men.

Here Cranmer was at a sufficient distance from the
royal residence, and at the same time near enough to
admit of frequent conferences with the king. That
such conferences took place is shown by the speech
which Henry was reported to have made, to the effect
that there were no difficulties which he was not ready
to encounter, if he had only Dr. Cranmer at his elbow.

Cranmer, an unknown Cambridge man, was ap-
pointed one of the royal chaplains. He is said to have
held the emoluments of the Archdeaconry of Taunton,
and of some other benefice of which the name is not
known ; but the duties he did not perform.

When the treatise was completed, Henry asked
Cranmer whether he would venture to maintain his
argument at Eome ; and Cranmer expressed an earnest
desire to be so employed. He was not a Protestant ;
and he had nothing to fear at Eome. He was, as his
countrymen had been for centuries, a thorough Angli-

* The Adelphi now occupies the site of Durham Place,
t Ann Boleyn was at court generally called the Lady, till she
became the Marchioness of Pembroke.

442 LIVES OF THE

Cm P< Can' PrePared to defen(i the king's cause against that
— — of the pope ; but he had not exceeded, as all admitted,

rpi •*- -1-

Cranmer. *ne latitude usually allowed to an advocate, even the

1533-56. devil's advocate, to say all he could on behalf of his

client. His argument was that the king's marriage

with his deceased brother's wife was not merely void-

able, but ab initio void.

The treatise, having received the royal imprimatur,
was laid before the two universities and the House of
Commons.* To both Oxford and Cambridge, accom-
panied by the Secretary of State, Dr. Gardyner, and
by Dr. Fox, the Lord High Almoner, together with
other great men, Dr. Cranmer now went to discuss
the subject of the divorce. Such was the mode of
enforcing and eliciting public opinion, before the
press had become its organ. Cranmer, so supported,
argued with great success ; and it is said that at
Cambridge he won to the king's side six or seven dis-
tinguished men, who were previously opposed to his
cause. The result of the mission may be admitted
by those who think that there were other modes
of effecting the change beyond the eloquence of
Dr. Cranmer.

An embassy to the papal court having been resolved
upon, Henry attached to it an advocate who had
proved himself to be both logical and eloquent. With
a refined policy, by which it was proclaimed to the
world that Henry's admiration of the Lady Ann had
not passed the bounds of propriety, the Earl of Wilt-
shire, her father, was placed at the head of the commis-
sion, t The powers of the commission were large and
indefinite, and it appears that the Archbishop-elect of

* The treatise is said to be lost, though I suspect that we possess
it, among the manuscripts in the British Museum.
t The pope was at this time at Bologna.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 443

York and the Bishop-elect of London at one time CHAP.
joined the embassy. The object was that " the matter — N-L
of the divorce should be disputed and ventilated."* ^mll.
It was known at the papal court that Cranmer was 1533-56.
rising in the favour of Henry, and accordingly he was
received at Rome with every mark of respect. The
pope accepted a copy of the treatise with courtesy,
but he postponed indefinitely a public discussion.
The question related not to the existence of papal
authority in the abstract, but to the limitations of that
authority in the present instance ; whether proceed-
ings should be initiated at Rome, or whether Rome
should remain passive until an appeal was made from
the decision of the court below. That the powers
assumed by Rome had, of late years, been much exag-
gerated, was beyond a doubt, and equally beyond a
doubt was the inexpediency of permitting a discussion
which would, though commencing with a particular

. involve the abstract question.
Although the pope postponed sine die the hearing
of Cranmer's argument, yet for the advocate himself
he took ever}' opportunity of showing his respect. A
clever lawyer, who had suggested a new view of the
king's case, one who appeared, as the mouthpiece
of an embassy of much importance, and who was
rising in favour at a court where the question was
eagerly asked, " Who is to be the successor of "Wol-
sey" — was a person not to be despised. The pope
therefore conferred upon Cranmer an office which was
lucrative as well as honourable. Cranmer was ap-
pointed by the pope " Penitentiary of England." t

* Moiice, 242.

t The importance of the office may have been seen in the fact

that Sixtus IV. conferred it upon one of his nephews. — Ranke, i.
38.

444 LIVES OP THE

°?nP* Upon him was conferred the power of granting all
•-"* — • papal dispensations ; and for such dispensations the

Thomas 7, . ,

Cranmer. lees required were by no means small. One of the pro-
1533-56. posals made for meeting Henry's object was, to grant
him a dispensation to contract another marriage during
the life-time of Katherine ; had this point been carried,
the dispensation would have passed through the hands
of Cranmer ; and it is probable that on this account
the appointment was made.

If the conduct of the Eoman clergy did not create
the same amount of indignation and disgust in the mind
of Cranmer as it had done in the case of Erasmus and
Luther, we must remember, that his visit was later than
theirs ; and if the reforms introduced by the piety of
the good Pope Adrian VI. had produced no other effect,
they had caused the clergy to assume a virtue if they
had it not, and to comport themselves with decency
and decorum. Nevertheless, there can be no doubt
that Cranmer's visit to Rome produced on his mind an
impression unfavourable to the papacy, and rendered
him more ready to hear in Germany, which he visited
in furtherance of the king's matter, the various argu-
ments used in favour of the regale in opposition to the
pontificate. He did not, however, as yet dispute the
existence of certain papal rights in every country ; but
he saw more clearly the necessity of placing restrictions
upon the exercise of those rights. His ancestors, with
this object in view, introduced the statute of prsemu-
nire, and those which were directed against provisions
and provisors. The new circumstances of another age
required the revival of such legislation ; or even an
attempt to make the laws against the papacy more
stringent.

Cranmer remained abroad for some time ; but he
appears to have been almost exclusively occupied as a

AKCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 445

lawyer, arguing in favour of what was called the king's CHAP.

. He commenced in Italy; he continued his L

labours in France and Germany. He was engaged in (?ra^er.
some secret conferences with the Elector of Saxony and 1533-56.
other princes, who had joined the Protestant league.
Because these conferences were secret, it is, of course,
impossible to trace him from one place to another.
Towards the close of the year 1530, he probably for
a short time returned to England. That he was in
England in 1531 we learn from a letter addressed by
him from Hampton Court to the Earl of Wiltshire,
bearing date the 13th of June of that year.*

The letter is a remarkable one, for he states with
candour and conciseness the arguments used by
Reginald Pole, in direct opposition to those of Cranmer
himself, urging the king to submit his whole cause to

-ole judgment of the pope.

The king, though prepared to act upon Cranmer 's
advice, if the pope could not be brought to terms,
hesitated to do what would immediately provoke a
rupture with the emperor. He retained confidence
in the sincerity and diplomatic skill of the King
of France, who undertook to negotiate with Clement
Everything counselled delay ; for, although the courtiers
boasted, that the canonists and the universities were
everywhere in the king's favour, yet the king himself
was aware that, even if literally speaking they were
correct, the public opinion was against him. Henry
knew full well, that a verdict notoriously obtained by
briberjr, coercion, or intimidation would carry with it
no moral weight. In order to induce the English
universities to decide as the king willed, recourse had
been had to proceedings the most unjustifiable and
iniquitous. The chivalrous spirit of the younger
* Lansdowne MS. 115, fol. i. Holograph.

446 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, masters had been roused in the cause of their perse-
— v-L cuted and insulted queen ; and by an act of despotism*
Cranmer. they were deprived of their votes. In Italy and in
1533-56. Spain, the king's cause had found little favour. The
Sacranientariansf and Swiss reformers refused to discuss
the subject on • its own merits. In Germany the
Lutherans were reported by Cook, the king's agent, to
be " utterly against his highness in the cause ;"| and
honest old Luther gave utterance to the feeling which
lurked in the soul of every true-hearted gentleman not
blinded by party zeal : " Whether the marriage were
at first legal or illegal," he declared that " separation,
after so many years of cohabitation, would be an
enormity greater than any marriage could have been,
however improper that marriage might have been in
the first instance."

How far Cranmer was mixed up in those measures,
by which men were bribed, coerced, or cajoled, it is
impossible to say. We know, however, that he had
now entered into the cause with all the fervour of a
partizan, and we fear that he considered no means to
be unlawful, which was conducive to the end he had
at heart. With the injured queen he was unacquainted,
and to his feelings of compassion no appeal was made
from that quarter ; at the same time the king was his
friend and benefactor, and as Cranmer thought, and as
was literally the fact — so far as the question was a dry
question of law — the king had right on his side.

The violence with which men can enter into such a

* Equal despotism was manifested towards the University of
Paris by Francis.

t Persons so called because they affirmed that the Sacraments
were outward visible signs, without inward spiritual grace. LUCKS
a non lucendo.

J This was not strictly true, as Osiander and a few otln'is took
the opposite side.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 447

cause, as that in which Cranmer was now concerned,
can be well understood by those who remember the
vehemence with which the cause of Queen Caroline
was supported or assailed. Little was thought of the 1533-06.
real merits of the case, but one party supported the
queen, under the idea that by so doing they were
furthering the cause of justice, and another party were
zealous for the king under the notion that they were
counteracting a tendency to revolution.

Cranmer had to report of the German princes, that
they could not be moved to take an interest in the
divorce question. They were naturally unwilling to
enter on a course of conduct, which, if it obtained
the precarious support of Henry, would be personally
offensive to the emperor. They could clearly see that
Henry had only a personal object in view, and that
when his point was carried, he was not prepared to
render them any valid support in their controversy
with the emperor. To them Luther was an authority ;
and among the most bitter opponents of Luther, King
Henry had been distinguished, and he would not recant.
If either Henry or Cranmer had been Protestant, a
rful league might have been formed, and the
Reformation might have become more uniform and
complete. But though Henry had a quarrel with the
pope, and though the anti-papal feeling was, as in most
of his countrymen, strong in Cranmer, yet both of
them were opposed to Protestantism, In religious
matters they sympathised rather with the emperor.
He like Henry was, at this time, prepared to set bounds
to the papal pretensions ; but both Henry and Cran-
ini-r were determined to uphold the authority of the
Church. Under these circumstances an embassy was
appointed to the emperor, and Cranmer was commis-
sioned to act as minister-plenipotentiary of the King

448 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, of England. His legal abilities, his zeal in the king's

_^L cause, his acquaintance with Rome, his intercourse with

Jranmer Protestant princes, his conciliatory manners, all marked

1533-56. him out as peculiarly fitted for the situation. But he

certainly did not seek it, and there is no reason to

doubt his assertion that he had no wish to become a

public character.

Cranmer's commission as "Conciliarius Regius et ad
Caesarem Orator," bears date the 24th of* January,
1531-2, when Warham was Archbishop of Canterbury.
Some delays took place, and he did not leave England
tih1 the end of June or the beginning of July.

The real, though not the ostensible object of Cran-
mer's mission was the furtherance of the king's cause
in the matter of the divorce. The policy of the king
was to induce the princes to purchase his support, by
aiding him in his cause ; or on the other hand, to make
it clear to the emperor that, by withdrawing his oppo-
sition to the divorce, and by securing Henry as his
ally, he would be able, without trouble, to establish his
supremacy in Germany. But the ambassador, Dr.
Cranmer, soon found he had to contend against adverse
circumstances, which proved to be too powerful for
himself and his master. On the side both of the
emperor and of the German princes, there was an
increasing desire for a suspension of hostilities, if it
were only for a season. Cranmer had forwarded to the
king a copy of the edict of the 3d of August, 1532,
when, at the conclusion of the Treaty of Nuremburg, the
emperor announced the general peace of Europe, " until
the meeting of a general free and Christian council."

Cranmer's mission to the emperor was at an end;
but he lingered in Germany, and had no desire to
hasten his return to England. He was not engaged in
theological discussions ; and the German divines were

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 449

politically, as well as on spiritual grounds, opposed to CHAP.
the Grand Penitentiary of England. They were the __v-L
supporters of Luther ; and Cranmer represented the royal (^^!
opponent of Luther. They regarded as heretics all who 1533-06.
refused to subscribe to their dogma of consubstantia-
tion; and for holding, or at all events for propagating,
the dogma of cousubstantiation, Cranmer was prepared,
a? it was soon after found, to consign the criminal to the
tender mercies of the state, which would silence him by
the stake. In their Erastianism they might have found
a common sentiment, and in a determination to circu-
late the Scriptures ; but, even in their antagonism to
the pope, Cranmer was not at this time prepared to go

r as the Lutherans.

With one man only could he fully sympathise.
Osiander was, like himself, an enthusiastic student of
Scripture, and was eminent as a critic of the Greek
iinent* They were both of them discontented
with the existing state of things ; they saw the neces-
sity of reform ; but could neither of them, at that time,
decide what the reform ought to be. They were not
either of them at that time Papists, neither were they
Protestants. Osiander disliked though he feared Luther,
he tyrannised over Melancthon. His mind was in
sympathy with no one ; he was a self-opinionated man,
who entertained such singular notions on theological
subjects that, as Mosheim remarks, it is easier to say
what he did not than what he did believe, f He was
at this time employed on his Dissertations, and this
attracted to him the mind of Cranmer. But it was
not by the learning of Osiander that Cranmer was

* His name vras Andrew Hoseman ; the name of Osiander was
assumed, according to the pedantic custom then prevalent in
Germany.

t Mosheim, ii. 576, edit Stubbs.

VOL. VI. G G

450 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, detained in Germany ; the bright eyes and sweet

L temper of Osiander's niece had made an impression

Cranmer uPon the susceptible heart of Cranmer ; who, having
1633-56. recovered from the loss of his Joan, was passionately
in love with the fair Margaret.* They married ; and
this marriage may be adduced to corroborate Cranmer's
own statement, that he never sought, desired, nor
expected the primacy of the Church of England.

It did not seem probable that the primacy would be
offered to Cranmer. He was a new man, just emerging
from obscurity ; and there was at the king's right hand
a faithful minister, perhaps even a kinsman, who
ranked high amidst the statesmen of the day, Stephen
Gardyner. Gardyner was as zealous as Cranmer in the
cause of the divorce, and not less zealous in supporting
the Royal Supremacy. If he was less sincere than
Cranmer, of his sincerity or insincerity no man could
judge, perhaps not even himself.

If Cranmer had been an aspirant to the primacy, he
would have foreseen that his marriage would have
offered an impediment to the fulfilment of his wishes.
If he loved his wife he would have shrunk from placing
her in a very delicate position, when she who, in private
society, was his wife, would be treated on public occa-
sions as if she were only his concubine.

Cranmer's ambition was the prevalent ambition of
the age, that of acquiring a high character in the lite-
rary world, with the means of enjoying literary leisure.
Erasmus set the example which men were anxious to
follow : we have seen in the life of "Warham how the
otium cum dignitate was the end which many great
men placed before them as the reward of their exertions.
This Cranmer might fairly expect ; it seemed to be
within his grasp. He had lately been leading the life
* "PuellaB cujusdam amore irritatus."

ARCHBISHOPS OF CAXTEEBURY. 451

suited to his disposition and character. He had been CHAP.
received at court with all the honour which great men .J^
were delighted to evince towards men of learning: and Thomas

Cramner.

in his own king he had a patron and friend, in whose 1533_56.
palaces he was sure to be a welcome guest. He might
expect from the king's generosity a sufficient number
of sinecure benefices to enable him to live in comfort,
and to enjoy that independence which Erasmus failed
to realize. To a man so situated, and going only occa-
sionally into public, a wife would be at all times a
comfort, never an inconvenience. She might accompany
him when he visited the courts of the German princes ;
and, if he were summoned to places where she would
not be a welcome guest, he might leave her for a short
time in Nuremberg, or in some happy home in England.
His position as king's chaplain was, in a worldly point
of view, one of high respectability. It gave him a
certain status wherever he might go ; and the learned
were prepared to welcome him in the universities or in
their homes, whenever he sought their society, or
desired amicably to discuss any of the great subjects
which occupied the minds of men. In the most
solemn moments of his life, Cranmer affirmed that he
never sought the primacy, and would have avoided the
honour if with safety he could have done so.

The king, however, did not make the offer of the
archbishopric without having first duly considered the
whole subject ; and what came in the form of a favour
Cranmer knew was in reality a command. The straight-
forward manly course would have been for Cranmer to
have said, as a mediaeval prelate had said before him,
when refusing to obey a summons from the pope, " I
have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come." But
the cowed boy of Aslacton had not this manliness of
character ; and he was aware that the excuse would be

G G 2

452 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, set aside at once, by a command to put away his wife.
.— v-L. Whatever might be the insults to which they might be
cSnmer. subjected, Cranmer and his Margaret determined not to
1533-56. part. He sent her before him to England, there to pro-
vide a home for herself, preparatory to future arrange-
ments which would depend upon circumstances. He
had, meantime, recourse to a measure which usually
commends itself to weak minds. He delayed his
journey to England as long as he could, in the hope
that, on reconsidering the matter, the king might
change his mind.

When, at length, he arrived in England, he found
that the home government had been employed not in
reconsidering the appointment to the see of Canter-
bury, but in expediting measures for the speedy
consecration of Cranmer, already archbishop-elect.

At the end of January, 1533, the king had notified
to the pope that he had nominated Dr. Cranmer to the
see of Canterbury ; that his election by the prior and
convent had taken place ; and that his desire was that
all expedition should be used in the issue of the bulls
of confirmation. The king had reasons of his own for
wishing that none of the customary forms should be
omitted; and the pope was desirous to meet the wishes
of a king to whom he was under great obligations, and
whose requests respecting the divorce he was unable at
present to meet. The bulls were issued as a matter of
course ; the first eight bearing date the 21st of
February ; the ninth being dated the 22d of the same
month, and the tenth and eleventh the 2d of March.

The reader has been frequently reminded tha,t the
nomination to vacant sees was virtually as much in the
power of the crown before the Eeformation as after
it ; that the election, saving theoretically the right of
chapters, and the grant of bulls, saving theoretically

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 433

the papal claims with reference to confirmation and CHAP.

T TT

provisions, had become mere forms.* _^-L^

There was no reluctance on the part of the papal ^^^
authorities to confirm the election of Cranmer. He was 1533-56.
indeed one of the king's counsel in the matter of the
divorce, and on some points he raised legal objections to
the exercise of the papal power ; but such was the case
with respect both to Gardyner and to Bonner. Both
of these ambassadors had used much stronger language
to the pope than had escaped the lips of Cranmer; and,
though neither of them had any .sympathy with the Pro-
testant movement on the continent, they had threatened
the pope, and warned him that England might be com-
pelled, if he did not do justice to the king, to bid
defiance to the papal power and act independently.

These observations are offered, and to those who have
perused the former volumes of this work will be perfectly
intelligible, because it is sometimes made to appear
that Cranmer acted with dishonesty towards Kome in
order to obtain the papal sanction to his appointment.

An objection was raised, and a difficulty interposed,
not by the papal authorities, but by Cranmer himself.
His was a legal difficulty, which was solved by the
lawyers whom he consulted, and not by casuists or
divi;

Among the forms required by the papal authorities
an oath to be taken by the prelate elect to the
effect that he would maintain and defend, against all
men, the regality of St. Peter ; that he would conserve
the rights, honours, privileges, and authorities of the
Church of Rome, and of the pope and his successors ;

* The reader has been also reminded, in the history of several
centuries, that the opinion is erroneous which would represent
the reduction of the conge d'clire to a mere form as originating at
the Reformation.

454 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, and that lie would not be in any council, treaty, or
_ ^ any other act in which anything should be imagined

agamst min or *ne Church of Rome, their rights, seats,
1533-56. honours, or powers. He was sworn to resist and per-
secute heretics and schismatics, and annually visit the
threshold of the apostles.

This oath had been taken ever since the twelfth
century without compunction or reluctance, and
without any protest on the part of the king or of the
national Government. It meant nothing, because
this oath was followed by another, in which the arch-
bishop or bishop elect solemnly on oath declared that
he utterly renounced and clearly forsook all such
clauses, words, sentences, and grants, as he had made
or should hereafter make to the pope's holiness in
behalf of the bishopric to which the king had nomi-
nated him ; that he utterly renounced whatever had
been hurtful or prejudicial to the king, his heirs,
dignity, privilege, or estate royal ; that he was ready
to live and die for the king against all people. He
solemnly with an oath acknowledged himself to hold
his bishopric of the king, and of the king only ; and,
on the ground of this oath, he prayed for a restitution
of the temporalities of the see, which would otherwise
have been withheld.

This latter oath was considered as superseding the
former oath, and both oaths had been taken without
hesitation by Warham and his predecessors for centuries.
The oaths were taken as mere forms. The bishop
elect would maintain all papal rights except when they
stood opposed to the prerogatives of the crown, or the
statutes of the realm, or the canons of the Church of
England. He would uphold the prerogatives of the
crown and the laws of the land against all papal aggres-
sion ; leaving it an open question for the lawyers to

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 45,3

decide what authority the pope might legally exercise. CHAP.
The pretensions of the pope anterior to the Council of __L
Trent were very different from what they have become ^JJJJIJJ
since. 1535-56.

It was a bad state of affairs, intended simply to
reserve rights, the king to nominate, the chapter to
elect, and the pope to confirm ; though it was well
known that, except when the Government was more
than usually weak, the royal nomination was the only
thing practically necessary.

It is under the most solemn circumstances that in the
nineteenth century a chapter proceeds to election ; and
the forms appear to be useless, because the electors
would 1 ie, not indeed burned, for burning is now illegal,
but outlawed, deprived of their property, and exposed
to the assaults of any one who should raise up his hand
against them, unless they obeyed the command of the
M'ign, who is himself under the influence of his
ministers ; but now, as formerly, the form is observt .1,
that under altered circumstances for good or for evil,
the Church may be prepared to act independently.

But the cautious mind of Cranmer started a diffi-
culty. Wolsey luul accepted the legatine commission ;
in accepting a commission from the pope, and exer-
cising it in England, even with the full sanction of the
crown, he laid himself open to the penalties of a prsemu-
nire ; the Statutes of Prsemunire and Provisors having
rendered any such appointment by the pope in England,
under any circumstances, highly penal. Since the
iniquitous proceedings on the part of the king, — the
constitutional proceedings on the part of the people, —
which put into execution the statutes just mentioned,
the convocation had declared and the parliament had
ratified the declaration of the royal supremacy. If,
then, Cranmer took the usual oaths, against which he

456 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, entertained no conscientious scruples on religious

in
^-^-i_ grounds, what guarantee had he that he should not

Cnmmer ^e subjected to the penalties of a praemunire for taking
1533-56. an oath, which might be represented as inconsistent
with the enactments relating to the supremacy "?

The treatment of Wolsey had shown that the old
antipapal statutes had not become obsolete; the new
enactment had made them more stringent.

Cranmer was in a delicate position. He was required
by the king to act contrary not only to the Statute of
Prsemunire but to the Act of Supremacy also. There
would have been no difficulty formerly. It was assumed
that the king had a dispensing power; and consequently
the forms were observed without fear of consequences.
The king was willing to exercise his powers with
respect to Cranmer. But the royal dispensation had
not been sufficient in the case of Wolsey. Yet the
king's will and word ought not to be disputed or
doubted. Therefore Cranmer was obliged to rest
satisfied with a protest, which was to be a document,
available if Cranmer was at any time brought into
trouble, to free him from all the penalties which might
otherwise devolve upon him for violating the law.

Such is the explanation given by Cranmer himself.
When he was probing his conscience towards the close
of life, his conscience did not reproach him for what he
did on this occasion. Called upon to do what his pre-
decessors had done, he started a legal difficulty. To
meet the difficulty, by the king's direction, he con-
sulted the lawyers. He acted on their advice ; the
protest was duly recorded, and he dismissed the sub-
ject from his mind, until at his last trial he was called
to account for his conduct.

The only individual who was personally interested
in the proceedings was the king, and his object was to

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 457

satisfy Cranmer as speedily as he could, and not to CHAP.
offend the only man who could, under existing cir- _^L,
cumstances, render him the service he required. Cranmer

The infatuation of Henry with respect to Ann 1533-06.
Boleyn had been little less than monomania. She, by
refusing his solicitations, inflamed his passion, and for
a season domineered over the king in a manner which
probably surprised his courtiers as much as it has
surprised posterity. The impartial reader cannot but
come to the conclusion that Henry had at length
triumphed over her virtue, and that, if a divorce had
been much longer delayed, she would have become a
mother before her marriage had taken place.*

* The passion of Henry VIII. of England for Ann Boleyn has
a parallel in that of Henry IV. of France for Gabrielle d'Estrees. It
would seem that men at this time, unaccustomed to put a restraint
upon their passions in early life, became victims to a predominant
vice at a period when we might have expected self-restraint.
Gabrielle waa so determined to exhibit her power to the world, that
to meet her wishes for a coronation, Henry IV. risked his crown.
Perhaps more astonishing than the passions of the kings was the
quiet manner in which the two nations submitted to what was in
£act a national insult. Henry VIII. was not, like Charles II, a
coarse sensualist. He required in the object of his attachment senti-
ment and intellect. He did not rove from one mistress to another.
His passions were not easily excited, but when once excited, he was
on that point a merciless madman. Ann Boleyn, a woman not of
ardent feelings, but of great ambition, domineered over her lover
by encouraging without indulging his passion. But every impartial
reader of history must be convinced that Henry at length triumphed
over her virtue, such as it was. She was created Countess of Pem-
broke, on the 1st of September, 1532, and was endowed, before
the BeformatioiJ, with .£1,000 a year out of the bishopric of
Durham, and another .£1,000 out of the court lands. The king
married her on the 25th of May, 1533. An earlier date has been
assigned, with the obvious purpose of creating an opinion that the
child of which at her coronation she waa pregnant, was conceived
in wedlock.

458 LIVES OF THE

CHAP. There is no other way by which to account for the
hurried marriage of the king, and the mystification

Cranmer wnic^ exists as to the date of the ceremony. While
1533-56. there was no prospect of a family, the king could
tolerate the delays of law ; but when the birth of a
child was expected, he expedited the marriage with
Ann before the nullity of his first marriage with
Katherine was pronounced, in order that there might
be no question as to the child's legitimacy. Every-
thing now depended upon the validity of Cranmer's
view of the marriage between Henry and Katherine.
Gardyner, as well as Cranmer, held it invalid. But
if Gardyner had been archbishop, he would have
waited until the nullity of the marriage had been de-
clared in the papal or legatine court. Years might
have passed before the divorce could be obtained ;
months would certainly have intervened, and the
expected heir to Henry's throne would have been
illegitimate.

Cranmer, on the other hand, contended, it will be
recollected, that by the canon law of the Church and
the statute law of the realm, the initiative should be
taken, not in a papal court, but in the court of the
national Church ; he maintained that sentence should
be given by the Archbishop of Canterbury, as the
Primate of All England. When this was first pro-
pounded by Cranmer, he would probably have admitted
of an appeal to the court at Eome ; but since that time,
with a view to this very case, it had been declared that
the Bishop of Rome had no more authority in the Church
and realm of England than any other foreign bishop.
Cranmer was therefore prepared to resist an appeal,
although he was evidently doubtful as to the mode of
action to be adopted if an appeal should be made.
We now see why Cranmer unexpectedly, to the

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 459

chagrin of Gardyner and the astonishment of England, CHAP.
had been nominated to the see of Canterbury ; why — .-L
everything had been done, even before his return to (S™^
England, to expedite his consecration ; and why such 1533-56.
care was taken to attend to all the old forms. The king
:tnxious that nothing should occur which should
throw doubt on the validity of Cranmer's consecration.
At any other period, instead of providing Cranmer
with a pretext for observing the forms now declared
to be obsolete, he would have applauded the zeal with
which he defended the royal supremacy. Soon after,
there was an enactment to render illegal the importa-
tion of bulls from Kome under any and every plea and
sanction ; but now, as the divorce was to be pronounced
by Cranmer, everything was to be avoided which
might raise a question as to the regularity of any of
the antecedent proceedings.

.nmer travelled slowly to England in the hope
that his capricious master might change his intention
with respect to the primacy. But it never entered
into Henry's mind to suppose that his will would be
disputed ; and on Cranmer's arrival in this country,
he found that, through the energy of the Government,
all the steps necessary for his consecration had been
already taken.

XM time was lost when the legal instruments were
ready. There was to be no great display ; no journey
unterbury. The prior and his chapter had been
required to grant a dispensation that the consecration
might take place at Westminster; and on the 30th
day of March, 1533, at St. Stephen's chapel, Thomas
Cranmer was consecrated, the Bishops of London,
Exeter, and St. Asaph officiating.

Mueli \va> to be done before Cranmer's enthroniza-
tion could take place, and it was delayed till the 3d

460 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, of November. The appointment was far from popular,
— ^ for Cranmer had done nothing as yet to justify his
extraordinary rise ; and the people of Canterbury would

1533-56. have preferred an aristocrat : Cranmer therefore acted
with judgment when he made no attempt to emulate
the grandeur exhibited by his immediate predecessor.
He did not indeed possess the means ; for much of the
property of the see was in the hands of the king, to
whom according to custom it had been sequestered; and
what Henry once grasped he did not easily relinquish.

Archbishop Cranmer dispensed with the attendance
of some of the nobles who were accustomed to officiate
on those occasions ; but he signified his readiness to
accept a present of venison, especially of red deer, for
the banquet.* It would appear, from a letter still
existing of the Prior of Canterbury, that a portion of
the expense was defrayed by the convent. f

It is thus to the poverty, not to the will, of Cranmer
that we are to attribute the absence of the splendour
usually displayed at enthronization banquets. The
younger son of a respectable but not opulent family had
no resources of his own, and nothing was due to him
on his taking possession of the see, as the last rents

* Letter Ixxx. Harl. MS. 6,148, fol. 40. From some of his
letters, it appears that Cranmer was particular about his venison,
and the preservation of game.

t Ellis, Third Series, Letter ccxxi. Thomas Goldwell, Prior of
Canterbury, in writing to Crumwell, apologises for not being able
to send a present worthy of his acceptance, for " so it is that by
reason of my Lord of Canterbury's enthronization, which was the
last week, our swans and partridges and such other things be con-
sumed and spent, so that I have nothing now to send unto you, but
only fruits of the earth. We have one fruit growing here with us
in Kent, the which is called a Pomeriall. He is called a very good
apple, and good to drink wine withal, wherefore I do now send
unto you, as to my special friend, twenty of them by my servant."

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 461

due to Warham were paid to his executors, and during
the vacancy the revenues were appropriated by the
king.* He had, at the same time, for very charity's
sake, to keep up a large establishment at his palace 1533-56.
and at his various manor houses. We may add, also,
the fact of the unpopularity of his appointment, and of
the impolicy of bringing together any large assembly
of the people. It was known that he was made arch-
bishop to facilitate the king's divorce, and the divorce
was unpopular among all whose manly hearts or
womanly affections felt indignant at the insult offered
to the highest lady in the land under the most cruel
•:-ution.f

Having thus traced the life of Cranmer from his
earliest years to the day of his consecration to the see of
Canterbury, it may be convenient to arrange his future
history under three general sections. "\Ve will follow
his political history to the close of Henry's life ; we
will then review the progress of his opinions ; we shall
afterwards resume his history during the reign of
Edward VI. ; and we shall dwell upon his trials and
sufferings under Queen Mary.

I. AY> have ;; -signed the reason for Cranmer's unex-
pected promotion. He was aware why he was selected
fer the primacy, and he knew what he was expected to
do. On his arrival in England he found ever}thing
prepared for action, through the untiring energy of
Cromwell's government, and the determined will of

* Many of the letters of Cranmer at this period consist of
applications for pecuniary assistance. On this subject we shall
e more to say hereafter.

t Among the few unpublished documents relating to Cranmer,
I have found a writ, preserved at Canterbury, from Henry VIII.
in 1534, directed to the dukes, viscounts, barons, &c. to protect
the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury during the visitation of his
clergy. This shows the strong feeling there was against him.

462 LIVES OF THE

CHAR the king. All preparatory measures had been already

_^-L, taken ; it only remained for him to give judgment, and

Cranmer *° Pronounce sentence.

1533-56. The king was already married.

The king asserted — and who might dispute or gainsay
the royal assertion \ — that the canonists and univer-
sities had pronounced the marriage of Katherine with
the brother of her former husband contrary to the
divine law. If so, it was beyond the reach of a papal
dispensation. If so, the marriage was void ab initio,
the king was a bachelor. If so, the bachelor king-
was at liberty to marry. And because it was so, he
had married the Marchioness of Pembroke. As an act
of delicacy, he kept his marriage with the Marchioness
of Pembroke a secret, until the nullity of his marriage
with the Infanta, of Spain was publicly and officially
declared. This was the state of the case as assumed by
the king. Crumwell had obtained an act of parlia-
ment to prevent the possibility of the delay which the
unhappy Katherine might have attempted to interpose
by an appeal to Rome. He did not venture openly to
avow the object of the bill which he introduced, for he
was well aware of the unpopularity of the proceeding ;
he simply asked of parliament to render more stringent
certain acts which had been passed in former reigns.
Not one reason assigned bore directly upon the present
case. It was proposed that no appeals should be made
out of this realm for these reasons, viz.—

" That whereas the kingdom of England was a just empire
furnished with such able persons, both spiritual and temporal,
as could decide all controversies arising in it. And whereas,
Edward I, Edward III, Richard II, Henry IV, and other
kings of this realm, have made sundry ordinances, laws, and
statutes, for the conservation of the prerogative, liberties, and
pre-eminences of the said imperial Crown, and of the juris-

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 463

dictions, spiritual and temporal, of the same, to keep it from CHAP,
the annoyance of the see of Eome, as also from the authority
of other foreign potentates attempting the domination or Thomas
violation thereof, and because notwithstanding the said acts, ^DmeT-
divers appeals have been sued to the see of Eome in causes
testamentary, cases of matrimony and divorces, right of
tithes, oblations and obventions, to the great vexation and
charge of the king's highness and his subjects, and the
delay of justice ; and forasmuch as the distance of the way
to Eome is such, as the necessary proofs and true knowledge
of the cause cannot be brought thither and represented so
well as in this kingdom, and tliat therefore many persons be
•without remedy. It is therefore enacted that all causes
testamentary, causes of matrimony and divorces, tithes,
oblations, and obventions, either commenced or depending
formerly, or which hereafter shall commence in any of the
king's dominions, shall be heard, discussed, and definitively
determined within the king's jurisdiction and authority in
the courts spiritual and temporal of the same, any foreign
inhibition or restraint to the contrary notwithstanding. So
that, although any excommunication or interdiction on this
occasion should follow from that see, the prelates and clergy
of this realm should administer sacraments and say divine
service, and do all other their duties, as formerly hath been
used, upon penalty of one year's imprisonment and fine at
the king's pleasure, and they who procured the said sentences
should fall into a praBinunire."

As for the order to be observed henceforth, it was
enacted, that in suits commenced before the archdeacon
or his officials, appeal might be made to the diocesan ;
and from thence within fifteen days to the Archbishop
of Canterbury or Archbishop of York respectively in
their provinces. Appeals were to be made to the
archbishops in the king's other dominions ; or if suit
be commenced before the archdeacon of any archbishop
or his commissioners, then appeal might be made within
fifteen days to the Court of Arches, and so without
any further appeal to the primate. In all these cases,

464 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, the prerogative of the Archbishop and Church of Can-
terbury was reserved. If any suit arose betwixt the
king and his subjects, appeal might be made within

1533-56. fifteen days to the prelates of the Upper House in the
convocation then sitting or next called by the king's
writ, there to be finally determined. It was further
enacted that "they who should take out any appeal
contrary to the effect of this act or refuse to obey it,
should incur the penalty of the statute of 16 Rich. II.,
"and thus," says Herbert, "the spiritualty, finding
the power invested formerly in the pope to be derived
now in great part on them, did more easily suffer the
diminution of the papal authority."*

Not only was this greater stringency given to acts
of parliament, which had been so frequently evaded, and
evaded even by Henry VIII. himself, as to have become
now obsolete ; but the indefatigable Crumwell had caused
the convocation to be assembled, and business had com-
menced in the synod of Canterbury, before the arrival
of the archbishop elect. During the vacancy of the
metropolitan see, the administration of the province
devolved upon the prior and chapter of Canterbury. In
obedience to a royal mandate, they summoned the con-
vocation to meet at Westminster on the 26th of March.
On that day the proceedings were opened by the Bishop
of London, president pro tern/pore. By the command of
the king he laid before the two houses all the documents
relating to the marriage of Henry and Katherine ; and
caused to be read publicly the determinations of the
foreign universities on the subject of the divorce. He
expressed the king's desire that convocation should pro-
nounce its judgment on the case with as little delay as
possible. At the session of the 28th of March, he laid
before the two houses the determination of the faculty of
* Herbert, Life and Reign of Henry VIII. Kennet, 1 62.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 4G5

theology at Paris, which was said to express the opinion
prevalent in the Gallican Church. He demanded the
udgment of the Upper House of Convocation, and again
urged his brethren to come to a decision at once. 1533-55.
Many of the prelates asked for time to deliberate upon
so important a question. They were given till four
o'clock the next day, when the president put to them
the question whether the pope could grant a dispensa-
tion to marry with a deceased brother's wife. The
majority gave answer in the negative ; that is, in the
king's favour. It is to be remembered that, in this
decision, thirty-six abbots and priors voted in the
majority, but only three bishops ; namely, the bishops
of London, St. Asaph, and Lincoln.'*

When we consider the ruin which the monks saw to
be impending over their establishments, we can easily
imagine how strong the pressure must have been to
obtain a majority on a question on which most of the
bishops had the manliness to oppose the king.

Cranmer, everything being prepared for him, acted
with the zeal of a partisan, and issued a commission to
the bishops of London, Winchester, and Lincoln, to
prorogue the convocation until the next day, when he
assumed his place as president. The archbishop laid
the whole subject before the two houses, and desired
the Lower House to report their opinion on the follow-
ing day. A speedy determination was required. To
expedite the business, the Lower House appointed two
committees ; a committee of theologians, and a com-
mittee of canonists. The first was to decide whether
marriage with a deceased brother's wife were prohibited
by God's law, and consequently excluded from any
papal dispensation ; and the canonists were to decide

* Four abbots afterwards gave in their adhesion to the majority,
if it were proved that the marriage had been consummated.
VOL. VT. H H

466 LIVES OP THE

CHAP, whether the depositions taken before the legates
~^~ amounted to canonical proof that the marriage be-
Jranmer. tween Arthur and Katherine had never been consum-
1533-56. mated. Long and vehement debates ensued : but, on
a division, fourteen gave judgment that the marriage
was prohibited by Scripture, and consequently beyond
the reach of any papal dispensation ; seven were of
opinion that the marriage was not in violation of any
divine law ; one doubted ; another declared his opinion
to be that it was against the divine law, but that the
divine law might be dispensed with by the Bishop of
Rome. On the 3d of April, the archbishop was for
some cause absent, and the Bishop of London presided,
when the prolocutor reported that the canonists unani-
mously agreed that the proofs adduced before the legates
were sufficient for them to decide that the marriage
between Arthur and Katherine was complete. Not-
withstanding this apparent unanimity, there were
some protests recorded ; but on the 4th of April, the
Bishop of Winchester, Stephen Gardyner, and the
Bishop of Exeter, expressed their concurrence with the
opinion of the canonists/"" while the Bishop of Bath

* The offensive question submitted to the canonists was neces-
sary, because it was contended that, although the Pope could not
dispense with the divine law, which forbade marriage with a
deceased brother's wife, yet the marriage between Arthur aud
Katherine was not a real marriage, but only a precontract, which
was dispensable. Whatever blame may be attached to the canonists
for refusing to believe the repeated assertions of the queen of her
virginity at the time of her marriage, two things have now
come clearly to light. We now know that the queen solemnly
asserted the fact under seal of confession to Campeggio, with per-
mission to him to mention it to the pope, in confidence. This we
learn from the valuable collection of historical documents lately
published by Theiner from the Vatican, which fully confirms all
that we gather from the Simancas documents. We also know that
the difficulties of Henry arose from his not daring to deny the fact

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 467

aud Wells dissented.* The vote of the whole convo- CHAP.

cation seems then to have been taken, when there was ^

for the king a majority of 253, against a minority C?J°™^

Of 19. 1533-56.

On the 5th of April, the king's advocate, Dr. Tre-
gonwell, appeared before the convocation to demand
that public instruments might be forthwith prepared
setting forth the decision of the convocation. The
instruments were accordingly drawn, and, the Convo-
cation of York concurring with that of Canterbury,
the judgment of the Church of England was recorded
that marriage with a deceased brother's wife is con-
trary to the law of God.

The archbishop, like the king, being anxious that
everything should be done in consistency with legal
forms, deferred his judgment on the marriage of the
king and Queen Katherine until the decision of the
clergy of York should be received. But he w~as not
inactive. The king's object was to create a popular
opinion that he was only induced to separate from the
qiu-cn by a sense of public duty. One would suppose
that even Cranmcr, willing to imagine all good of the
king, must have been scandalized by hypocrisy so trans-
parent and base. But he wras in the king's hands, and
they consulted together, and for the sake of imposing
on the public it was agreed that the archbishop should
address a letter to the king, in which his majesty
was to be humbly informed that his loyal subjects

to the legates. That excuses may be made for the subordinate
- in the disgraceful affair of the divorce is possible, but of the
unfeeling brutality of Henry there can scarcely be two opinions.

* Wilkins, iii. 757. On the 13th of May, Dr. Eowland Lee
appeared as the king's advocate before the Convocation of York,
which concurred in the judgment of the Convocation of Canterbury.
— Vilkins, iii. 767.

H H 2

4G8 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, were sore troubled at the dangers to which this realm
in
__^ would be exposed by a disputed succession ; wherefore

cSmmer ^e wnom ^is grace " had called, albeit a poor wretch
1533-56. and much unworthy, to the high and chargeable office
of primate and archbishop," humbly prayed the king's
licence to put an end to all doubts with respect to the
validity of his marriage with Katherine, by permitting
him to hear and determine the cause of the divorce
in his archiepiscopal court.* To which humble re-
quest his majesty graciously condescended. He would
submit to be judged by the primate, although he held
himself to be in all causes and over all persons, eccle-
siastical and civil, supreme.!

Notwithstanding all the precautions he had taken,
we find, from a letter from Cranmer to Crumwell, that
the former was fearful to the last, of some opposition
to the intended proceedings on the part of Katherine,
which it might be difficult to meet. It would seem
that he desired the judgment to be delivered without
notice to the queen. He thought it sufficient simply to
notify the fact that the marriage was void. But Henry
was far too wise to sanction any " hole and corner"
transaction. He desired that she should have no oppor-

* State Papers, i. 390.

t Ibid. 392. That there was collusion between the king and
the archbishop is proved by two letters written by Cranmer for
licence to act. Both are at present in existence, both in Cran-
mer's handwriting, both bear marks of having been folded, sealed,
and received by the king ; that is to say, the king was consulted
as to the letter which was to be addressed to himself. With
the first, apparently, he was not well satisfied. Cranmer, in the
extreme servility with which he wrote, overstrained his point in
the first of the two letters. It is difficult to see any real difference
between them, though I think Dr. Lingard is right when he says
the king's object was to compel the archbishop to take the whole
responsibility on himself.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 469

tunity for pleading ignorance of the proceedings, or of CHAP.
complaining that they were conducted at a distance — ^,
which might render it inconvenient for her to attend. Thomas

Lranmer.

The queen was at Ampthill, in Bedfordshire. Within 1533-55.
a few miles of her residence was a priory of black
canons ; and thither the archbishop repaired on the
8th of May. He was cordially welcomed by the prior,
Gervase Markham, who was a strong partisan of the
king.* The primate established his court in the
Chapel of Our Lady attached to the church of the
convent. He had for his assessor the diocesan, the
Bishop of Lincoln, Dr. Longlands; while the Bishop
of Winchester, Stephen Gardyner, Dr. Bell, Dr. Clay-
broke, Dr. Trygonnell, Dr. Hewis, Dr. Olyver, Dr.
Brytten, and Mr. Bedyll, with other learned men of the
law, appeared as counsel for the king. Everything was
done which could add solemnity to the occasion, and
the public were admitted to witness the proceeding- >
The court thus arrayed with a large attendance of
counsel for the king, impressed the minds of the people
with the notion that a strong opposition might be
expected on the part of the queen. But, though duly
cited into the court, the queen did not attend, nor did
any one appear on her behalf. There seems to have
been some difficulty in deciding how to take the
depositions of some ladies, who, instead of coming to
Dunstable, remained in London ;£ and the people were
obliged, during the llth of May, to be contented with
the procession as it moved into court, and the splendid
ceremonial of high mass, at which Cranmer officiated.
But en the 12th of May, the citation having been duly
pi i ived,and the queen appearing neither in person nor by

* Dugdale, i. 238.

t Remains, Letter xiv. Harl. MSS. 6,148, fol. 23.

J State Papers, L 394.

470 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, proxy, the archbishop pronounced her contumacious, a

— ~ fact of which he immediately apprised the king by letter,

Craumer. adding, " so that she is, as the counsel informed me,

1533-56. precluded from further monition to appear."* On the

1 7th the archbishop wrote to the king, who it would

seem had expressed some impatience, to advertise

him that "his grace's great matter was now brought

to a final sentence ; " but because every day in the

ensuing week was ferial, except Friday and Saturday,

he could not give judgment before the day first

named.f

On Friday, the 23d, the archbishop delivered his
judgment. He recited briefly the circumstances of
the case, and the reasons which induced the court
to arrive at its conclusion ; and then, in a document
drawn up in the usual form, with the advice of the
most learned in the law and of persons of most eminent
skill in divinity who had been consulted, he delivered
his judgment, that it was not lawful for the most illus-
trious and powerful prince, Henry VIII, and the most
serene Lady Katherine, to remain in the pretended
marriage, " and we do separate and divorce from each
other the said most illustrious and most powerful
king, Henry VIII, and the said most illustrious Lady
Katherine, inasmuch as they contracted and consum-
mated the said pretended marriage de facto and not
de jure, and that they, so separated and divorced, are
absolutely free from all marriage bond, with regard to
the aforesaid pretended marriage ; and we pronounce,
decree, and declare by this our definitive sentence and
final decree which we here give, and by the tenor of
these presents publish." j

He caused the judgment to be read in the chapel on

* State Papers, i. 394. t Ibid. i. 396.

} Herbert, 165.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 471

the 2 3 d of May, 1533, and then forwarded it to the king. CH AP.
There is a letter extant from the Clerk of the Council, _J^
Archdeacon Bedyll, to Crumwell, written on the 12th cTr!^.
of May, pending the trial ; from which it appears that 1533-06.
there was by no means a feeling of security at head-
quarters. It was suspected that the queen might still
interpose difficulties ; and under this impression daily
reports of the proceedings were made through Bedyll
to the king. The conclusion of his letter to Crumwell
is remarkable : " I trust the process here will be some-
what shorter than it was devised afore the king's grace ;
assuring you truly that my Lord of Winchester and all
other that be here as of the king's grace's counsel
studieth as diligently as they possibly can to cause
everything to be handled so as to be most consonant
to the law, ".< fur UK flf matter "'ill suffer. And my
Lord of Canterbury handleth himself very well, and
very uprightly, without « mj undent cause of suspicion
to be noted in him, by the counsel of the said Lady
Katherine, if she had any present here/'*

No words can be adduced more condemnatory of the
conduct of Cramner on this occasion. It is admitted,
that he was simulating the character of a just judge,
when he had deliberately come to deliver an iniqui-
tous judgment. But he seems never to have been
conscience-stricken for his conduct on this occasion.
As there are some who say that everything is lawful at
an election, so he seems to have thought that a partisan,
when he has the power, might employ it, without com-
punction, for the furtherance of party purposes. He was
a hypocrite as regarded the queen and her supporters ;
but he sought applause, by the avowed hypocritical
action, from the men of his own side. They expected
him to play a part ; and an old unprincipled official.
* State Papers, i. 395.

472 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, in a patronising tone, asserts that the new man, unex-
J^_ pectedly elevated and unused to the ways of a court,
Thomas ^ad played his part better than could have been

( r. miner. L J ,

1533-56. expected. The moral tone was low ; the king s will
supreme ; party feeling ran high.

Immediately after the sentence of divorce, some
form was adopted by the archbishop to give, or appear
to give, an official sanction to the marriage which
had already taken place between the king and his
mistress.

The whole subject of this marriage is mystified,
and the care taken in this reign to cook or to destroy
}>ul)lic documents which might otherwise be produced
to the king's disadvantage, renders it unlikely that
the mystery will be cleared, unless we obtain a clue
from some foreign source. It has been sometimes
conjectured, that after the archbishop's sentence the
marriage ceremony was repeated. But this is not
likely to have been the case, for the object was to
represent the Marchioness of Pembroke as having
resisted the addresses of her royal lover, until he had
quite made up his mind, that his marriage with
Katherine was no marriage at all.

One would have liked to read a single sentence
written by Cranmer, expressive of commiseration for
the unhappy queen, now divorced from a base and
cruel husband, who, though even in their happier days
he had not been faithful to her bed, had won her affec-
tions. But the heart is hardened by partisanship and
politics. Cranmer did not with his own eyes behold
the weeping, praying, dying, injured woman, who,
born a princess of the mightiest empire in the world,
had, for a quarter of a century, lived an honest wife,
a courteous 'queen, and a pious Christian, and was
now to regard herself as a cast-off concubine, and

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 473

her daughter — her only surviving child — as a bastard. CHAP.

in
Cranmer saw her not ; he had scarcely ever seen her ; __^L

and his was not a vivid imagination, to depict the 0^°™^
sorrows of her heart ; while, on the other hand, he 1533-56.
knew, and feared, and loved the king, to whom he
was bound by ties of gratitude, and before whose
superior intellect and will his whole soul lay prostrate.
While the indignation of the world is directed against
Henry, we must not forget the merits of the king in
our abhorrence of the man ; and even of the man it is
to be said that the power of his intellect and the fas-
cination of his manners were such as to conceal much
of his moral deformity from his contemporaries. To
them his life, as it approached its end, became the more
valuable even as the political prospects of the future
became tin- in< >iv dark. The party for which no apology
can be made is that of the infidel and the Puritan, who,
regarding Katherine and Ann with the jaundiced eye
of faction, defame the saint and canonize the harlot.

The king was aware of the disgust which his mar-
had excited in most of those earnest-minded
persons who were removed from the royal influence, or
who were not expectant of court favour. He met the
case, and sought to purchase the favour of the people
towards his new wife by the splendid pageantry of her
coronation. Nothing could have exceeded the magni-
ficence or the hilarity of the new court. Through it
an impulse was given to trade, while the beauty of the
queen fascinated all who approached her ; and they
who left her presence were able to speak of the par-
tiality she evinced toward the Protestants, by whom
partisanship was placed in the room of charity, and
regarded as covering a multitude of sins.

Of the coronation of Queen Ann it is unnecessary to
speak in detail, because of all coronations this is best

474 LIVES OF THE

known, from the circumstance of its having been intro-
duced by Shakspeare into his play of " Henry VIII."
were easy to describe what is minutely depicted
1533-56. by Stowe in his Annals ; it were more interesting to
observe how admirably Shakspeare selects the salient
points, and with one stroke of the master's pen
vivifies what, under the annalist, is as tedious as
a twice-told tale. This, however, were beside our
purpose ; yet the reader will be pleased to peruse
Cranmer's own account of the ceremony, as every-
thing from a contemporary, descriptive of an action
with which he was himself concerned, must be read
with interest. Having narrated in a letter to his
friend, Archdeacon Hawkyns, the splendour of the
new queen's progress from Greenwich to the Tower of
London on the Thursday preceding Whit-Sunday, and
her subsequent progress on the following Saturday
through the city, he writes thus :—

" Now then on Sunday was the coronation, which also was
of such a manner.

" In the morning there assembled with me at "Westminster
Church, the Bishop of York, the Bishop of London, the Bishop
of Wynchester, the Bishop of Lincoln, the Bishop of Bath,
and the Bishop of St. Asse, the Abbot of Westminster, with
ten or twelve more abbots, which all revestred ourselves in
our pontificalibus, and so furnished with our crosses and
croziers, proceeded out of the abbey in a procession into
Westminstre Hall, where we received the queen apparelled
in a robe of purple velvet, and all the ladies and gentlemen
in robes and gowns of scarlet, according to the manner used
beforetime in such business ; and so her grace, sustained of
each side with two bishops, the Bishop of London and the
Bishop of Wynchester, came forth in procession unto the
Church of Westminstre, she in her hair, my Lord of Suffolke
bearing before her the crown, and two other lords bearing
also before her a sceptre and a white rod, and so entered
up into the high altar, where, divers ceremonies used about

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY 475

her, I did set the crown on her head, and then was sung CHAP.
Te Dcurn. &c. And after that was sung a solemn mass, all
which while her grace sat crowned upon a scaffold, which Thomas
was made between the high altar and the choir in TTest- Cranmer.
minstre Church ; which mass and ceremonies done and Io33~56-
finished, all the assembly of noblemen brought her into
uinster Hall again, where was kept a great solemn
feast all that day ; the good order thereof were too long
to write at this time to you. But now, sir, you may not
imagine that this coronation was before her marriage, for
she was married much about St. Paul's day last, as the
condition thereof doth well appear, by reason she is now
somewhat big with child. Notwithstanding it hath been
reported throughout a great part of the realm that I married
her, which was plainly false, for I myself knew not thereof a
fortnight after it was done. And many other things be also
reported of me, which be mere lies and tales." *

Thciv were many careless-minded men on whom
the sight of the queen in all her beauty, set forth to
advantage by a gracious manner, had the effect so
well expressed by one of the gentlemen introduced
upon the scene by Shakspeare : —

" Heaven bless thee !

Thou hast the sweetest face I ever looked on. —
Sir, as I have a soul, she is an angel :
The king has all the Indies in his arms,
And more and richer, when he embraces her ;
/ cannot blame his contcience."

The reader will mark the sarcasm of the last line,
and will not be surprised to hear that in the provinces
there was less readiness to give the king credit for a

* Letter xiv. Harl. MSS. 6,148, fol. 23. The archbishop was
not so polite to the fair sex as we might have supposed one so
lately married might have been. He tells us that after the queen
came four rich chariots, one of them empty, " and three other
furnished with divers ancient old ladies." He reserved his admi-
ration for the other ladies and gentlemen who followed.

476 LIVES OP THE

CHAP, conscience really scrupulous. In London, all the Lon-
— ^L cloners at that time, in some way or other, partook
SmS. °^ tne TOJ^ festivities. The court of England was not
1533-56. confined to the royal family and the officers of state.
Henry VIII. rejoiced to see the people enjoying them-
selves. He shared in their amusements, and they in
his. High and low, rich and poor, mingled together in
the palace, or in the surrounding gardens. They saw
the king all joyous, they shared in his joy ; and as the
lovely queen smiled upon them, they became her lovers.

" In shows,
And pageants, and sights of honour,"

they took delight, as most men do. They did not
begrudge the expenses of the court, when in the
pleasures of the court they were, in some way or
other, permitted to have their share.

But the enthusiasm of the moment, which might
carry away the Londoner, had little effect upon persons
dwelling in the country, and removed from court in-
terest. There were some even in London who viewed
the king's conduct with feelings of disgust. The lords
temporal and the statesmen listened with profound
attention to the king, when he discoursed on the
miseries which would ensue to the country if at his
death any doubts should be raised as to the succession
to the throne. The courtiers applauded the patriotism
which could induce the king to sacrifice a wife of
whom he was weary, and to share his throne with an
English lady by whose grace and beauty it was adorned.
The lords spiritual, grateful for favours received or to
come, and living in fear lest their lands might be
seized and the value risked at a gaming-table, believed,
or affected to believe, that the tender conscience of the
king required that he should have recourse either t<>

ARCHBISHOT AXTERBURV. 477

bigamy, if the pope would allow it, or to that divorce CHAP.
which was conceded to him by Cranmer. But the —.~
matronage of England rose up in chaste indignation Cranmer.
at Henry's treatment of his wife, — an indignation im- 1533-06.
parted to their children, and handed on from genera-
tion to generation, until it has covered with everlasting
infamy the name of a once popular king.*

There was then, as there always has been in Eng-
land, a class of whom the most daring statesmen stand
in awe ; — men and women piously discharging the
duties of their station, asserting hereditary rights, and
only opposed to changes when those changes subject
them to inconvenience, or interfere with their esta-
blished prejudices. The persons of this class took
little interest in the divorce question, while it was in
progress ; it was a question of law, to be decided by
the law courts, the appeal lying to Rome. But when
it appeared to them, that the law had been set aside
merely to gratify the royal appetite, their sense of
justice was shocked, their love of liberty was aroused.
They with their wives listened with eager attention
to the tales of Queen Katherine's sorrows which the
itinerant preacher had to repeat ; and the itinerant
preacher was in the interest of the old learning.

The reaction soon reached London. The king and
queen heard themselves compared from the pulpit to
Ahab and Jezebel; and by more than one plainspoken

* Hall, a violent partisan of the king, speaking of what had
occurred long before the divorce had actually taken place, and with
reference to the decrees of the universities, observes : " When
these determinations (of the University of Tholouse) were pub-
lished, all wise men of the realm abhorred that marriage ; but
women, and such as were more wilful than wise and learned, spake
against the determination, and said that the universities were
corrupt" — Hall, 780. How easily we predicate a monopoly of
wisdom to those who agree with us in opinion.

478 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, preacher their conduct was, in terms still stronger,
— v~Lx denounced. The court was indignant. They applauded
Cranmer. the Earl of Essex when he threatened to throw two
1533-56. of the preachers, who had been apprehended, tied to-
gether, into the Thames. The resolution of the poor
but honest preachers was announced to the intolerant
peer, by the reply, that the way to heaven is as near
by water as by land. The pulpit in that day served the
same purpose as the modern press. If the Government
desired any statement to be made, or any document to
be published, orders were sent to the preachers. When
it is supposed that the clergy at this period were men
without influence, dumb dogs that could not bark, the
supposition is at once refuted by the fact, that the
Government of the day became so alarmed that the
primate found it necessary to prohibit all preaching
for a season. The preachers being many of them
friars, mingled politics with religion, and perhaps it
was necessary to silence them ; nevertheless it was a
despotic act, only justified by the plea of necessity.

It was unfortunate for Cranmer that the first act
of his primacy should be what, whether justifiable
or not, could only be regarded in general as an act of
tyranny. He prohibited all preaching throughout his
own diocese, where the feeling was especially strong
against the judge who had pronounced the sentence
of divorce and the prelate who assumed the mitre in
order that he might become the judge. With respect
to the other dioceses in his province, he took counsel
with his " well-beloved brothers in God," the Bishop of
London (Stokesley), the Bishop of Winchester (Stephen
Gardyner), and the Bishop of Lincoln (Longlands).
The result of the conference was, that every bishop
should be required to withdraw all existing licences to
preach, and that new licenses should only be granted

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 479

under the injunction, " that they should have regard in CHAP.
their preaching to the Provincial Constitution in the ^^L
title De Hcereticis ; that is to say, that they should in ^^J
no wise touch or intermeddle themselves to preach or 1533-55.
teach any such thing that might slander or bring into
doubt and opinion the catholic and received doctrine
of Christ's Church,* or speak such matters as touch
the prince, his laws or succession."

In a letter addressed to his suffragans, the primate
directed them immediately to issue a monition and
inhibition to this effect.

This inhibition or restraint upon preaching continued,
it is presumed, till the 9th of June, 1534, when a pro-
clamation was issued requiring the clergy to denounce
the Bishop of Rome, and to inculcate by preaching the
king's title and jurisdiction as recognised by parlia-
ment and convocation. At the same time, they were
required to justify the king's separation from the
princess dowager, and his new contract with the Lady
Ann. If any one were to halt or stumble in the per-
formance of this the king's will and pleasure, he was
duly warned, " Be ye assured that we, like a prince of
justice, will so extremely punish you for the same, that
all the world shall take by you example and beware,
contrary to their allegiance, to disobey the lawful
commandment of their sovereign lord and prince."

These strong measures speak volumes of the un-
popularity of the divorce ; and we are not surprised to
find, that when in October 1533, the new archbishop
proposed to hold a visitation at Canterbury, his very
life \vas in danger. He was obliged to seek protection
from the Government, and a writ was directed to all

It is to be remembered that Cranmer did not at this time even
pretend to be a Protestant. All that he did was, with Gardyner,
to uphold the royal supremacy.

480 LIVES OP THE

CHAP, dukes, viscounts, barons, &c. requiring them to pro-
__^ tect the lord archbishop in the visitation of his

Thomas Church.*
Uranmer.

1533-56. There was no want of animal courage in Cranmer.
When backed by his superiors he was bold, as he
became cowardly when their support was withdrawn.
Moral courage he had none. Strong in the royal
protection, he preached boldly on the divorce and the
supremacy ; and set an example of obeying the royal
commands, though the opposition which he met was
by no means to be despised. His hands were, how-
ever, strengthened by the fact, that many of the lead-
ing persons in his diocese, including the members of
his own cathedral, had been more or less implicated
in the imposture of Elizabeth Barton, the Nun of Kent,
and so were liable to a prosecution by the Government.
Having had occasion to detail the circumstances of this
case in the Life of Warham, I shall do no more in this
place than remind the reader that it is only a repetition
of what has often occured. Deceived first, and then de-
ceiving, the Nun of Kent began in fanaticism, and pass-
ing through the phase of half-conscious hypocrisy, she
became for a time a tool in the hands of designing men,
until, her conscience being awakened by her fears, she
became her own accuser; and in her confession she was
impelled, as is frequently the case, to exaggerate her
faults and to criminate others. I have shown the
reader how the case presented itself to the mind of
Warham. The following letter will show how it
appeared to Cranmer, a man of another generation.
The letter has that charm which always attaches to an

* This writ is still preserved among the archives of Canterbury
Cathedral. It is one of the only documents, three in number,
which have not, I believe, been published. Why Strype did not
publish it, may be easily surmised.

ARCHBISHOP-- OF < AXTERBURY. 4S1

original communication ; and I know not how the CHAP.

story can be more concisely told. .JiL.

\Yriting to Archdeacon- Hawkvns : — Thomas

Cranraer.

" These he to ascertain you of such news as he here now lo33-56-
in fame amonges us hi England. And first ye shall under-
stand, that at Canterbury, within my diocese, about eight
years past, there was wrought a great miracle in a maid by
the power of God and Our Lady, named Our Lady of Courte-
upstret, by reason of the which miracle there is stablished
a great pilgrimage, and ever since many devout people hath
sought to that foresaid Lady of Courte of Strett The miracle
was this : The maid was taken with a grievous and a con-
tinual sickness, and induring her said sickness she had"
divers and many trances, speaking of many high and godly
things, and telling also wondrously by the power of the Holy
Ghost as it was thought, tilings done and said in other
places, whereat neither she was herself, nor yet heard no
report thereof. She had also in her trances many strange
visions and revelations, as of heaven, hell, and purgatory,
and of the state of certain souls departed, and amonges
all other visions one was, that she should be conveyed to
Our Lady of Courte of Strett, where she was promised to
be healed of her sickness, and that Almighty God should
work wonders in her ; and when she was brought thither,
and laid before the image of Our Lady, her face was wonder-
fully disfigured, her tongue hanging out, and her eyes being
in a manner plucked out and laid upon her cheeks, and so
greatly disordered. Then was there heard a voice speaking
within her belly, as it had been in a tun, her lips not greatly
moving : she all that while continuing by the space of three
hours and more in a trance ; the which voice, when it told
anything of the joys of heaven, it spake so sweetly and
heavenly that every man was ravished with the hearing there-
of ; and contrary, when it told anything of hell, it spake so
horribly and terribly that it put the hearers in a great fear.
It spake also many things for the confirmation of pilgrimages
and trentals, hearing of masses and confession, and many
such other things. And after she had lain there a long
time, she came to herself again and was perfectly whole, and

VOL. VI. I I

482

LIVES OF THE

CHAP.
III.

Thomas
Cranmer.

1533-56.

so this miracle was finished and solemnly rung, and a book
written of all the whole story thereof and put into print,
which ever since that time hath been commonly sold and
gone abroad amonges all people. After this miracle done,
she had a commandment from God in a vision, as she said,
to profess herself a nun. And so she was professed, and
hath so continued, in a nunnery at Canterbury, called St.
Sepulcres, ever since. And then she chose a monk of Christ's
Church, a doctor in divinity, to be ghostly father, whose
counsel she hath used and evermore followed in all her
doing. And evermore since from time to time hath had
almost every week, or at the furthest every fortnight, new
visions and revelations, and she hath had oftentimes trances
and raptures, by reason whereof, and also of the great per-
fectness that was thought to be in her, divers and many as
well great men of the realm as mean men, and many learned
men, but specially divers and many religious men, had great
confidence in her, and often resorted unto her and communed
with her, to the intent they might by her know the will of
God; and chiefly concerning the king's marriage, the great
heresies and schisms within the realm, and the taking away
the liberties of the Church ; for in these three points standeth
the great number of her visions, which were so many that
her ghostly father could scantly write them in three or four
quires of paper. And surely I think that she did marvel-
lously stop the going forward of the king's marriage by the
reason of her visions, which she said were of God, persuading
them that came unto her how highly God was displeased
therewith, and what vengeance Almighty God would take
upon all the favourers thereof; insomuch that she wrote
letters to the pope, calling upon him in God's behalf to stop
and let the said marriage, and to use his high and heavenly
power therein, as he would avoid the great stroke of God,
which then hanged ready over his head, if he did the contrary.
She had also communication with my Lord Cardinal and
with my Lord of Canterbury my predecessor in the matter,
and in mine opinion, with her feigned visions and godly
threatenings, she stayed them very much in the matter.
She had also secret knowledge of divers other things, and
then she feigned that she had knowledge thereof from God ;

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 483

insomuch that she conceived letters and sent them forth, CHIP
making clivers people believe that those letters were written Hi.
in heaven, and sent from thence to earthly creatures. Xow Thomas
about Midsummer last, I hearing of these matters, sent for Cranmer.
this holy maid to examine her ; and from me she was had 1533~56-
to Master Cromewell, to be further examined there. And
now she hath confessed all, and uttered the very truth, which
is this : that she never had vision in all her life, but all that
ever she said was feigned of her own imagination, only to
satisfy the minds of them the which resorted unto her, and
to obtain worldly praise: by reason of the which her con-
fession, many and divers, both religious men and other, be
now in trouble, forasmuch as they consented to her mischiev-
ous and feigned visions, which contained much perilous
sedition and also treason, and would not utter it, but rather
further the same to their power.

" She said that the king should not continue king a month
after that he were married. And within six months after,
God would strike the realm with such a plague as never was
seen, and then the king should be destroyed. She took upon
her also to show the condition and state of souls departed, as
of my Lord Cardinal, my late Lord of Canterbury, with divers
other. To show you the whole story of all the matter it
were too long to write in two or three letters ; you shall know
further thereof at your coming home."

It would appear from this and other documents, that
Cardinal Wolsey either believed, or, as is more probable,
employed for his own purposes, this unfortunate female.
There was no tendency to superstition in Cranmer's
nature, and his political principles would lead him to
suspect proceedings in which Warham, More, and
Fisher, unconsciously influenced by their prejudices,
too readily acquiesced. The nun, with Dr. Bocking
and her other accomplices, was compelled to do penance
before the open cross in London, and in the church-
yard at Canterbury. In the April of 1534, she, to-
gether with Bocking and Bering two dignitaries of the
* Remains, i. 79.
I I 2

484 LIVES OF THE

CHAP. Church being members of the chapter of Canterbury,
J^L, was taken from prison, and dragged through the streets
Thomas of London, after which they were all hanged for treason

Cranmer. *

1533-56. an(i heresy at Tyburn.

Cranmer first came into collision with Stephen Gar-
dyner by insisting on his right to hold a provincial
visitation, a proceeding on the unpopularity of which
we have had frequent occasion to remark. Such visi-
tations enriched the metropolitan and his court at the
expense of the diocesan and his clergy. "We know that
Cranmer was pressed for money, and it may have been
to replenish his treasury that he made a metropolitical
visitation ; and we know also that he was accused of
avarice. When he determined, however, upon a pro-
vincial visitation, it is difficult to understand why he
should have selected the diocese of Winchester, since, as
we have seen, only five years before, this diocese had
been visited, and on account of the visitation Warham
was brought into controversy with Fox. It is not im-
probable, that this was only a continuation of a visita-
tion which had already commenced under Warham.
Fox resisted Warham's visitation ; a controversy ensued,
and now Cranmer took up the action where Warham had
left it.* It does not appear that the opposition was raised
from mortification on the part of Gardyner at having
missed the archbishopric, though one may easily suspect
that this circumstance added acrimony to the dispute.
The Bishop of Winchester contended that wiien the
Archbishop claimed a right to visit as Primate of All
England, he violated that act of supremacy of which he

* There is no account of the controversy in Cranmer's Eegister
at Lambeth. Of Gardyner's Eegister at Winchester, only a por-
tion of it has been preserved, and that has never been bound.
If there was an entry on the subject mentioned above, it must
have been in the missing portion of the Register. "We are, there-
fore, left to conjecture.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 485

was an eager advocate, according to which each bishop CHAP.
was responsible — so Gardyner pretended — not to his ^I^L
metropolitan, but to his king. It was strange ground Thomas

Craniner.

for Gardyner to have taken up, if we look to the later 1533-56.
transactions of his life ; but he spoke with authority
now, for he had been himself instrumental in brinoino-

o o

the subject of the supremacy before the Convocation.
Some awkward questions might have been raised, and
the matter, through the interposition of Crumwell, was
permitted to drop. Cranmer stated, in a letter to
Crumwell, what we may fairly believe to be true, that
if all the bishops were as indifferent as he was to the
externals of his office, the king's highness would find
little difficulty in the satisfactory adjustment of such
matters. Nevertheless, he laid himself open to the
charge of having indulged himself in a vexatious exer-
cise of power over a prelate till lately his superior, and
who may have been regarded as a rival candidate for
the arcliiepiscopal throne. Cranmer put himself more
decidedly in the wrong when he proposed to visit the
diocese of London ; and this we mention because it
shows that he had as yet laid down for himself no
definite course of action. He summoned to his visi-
tation not only the archdeacon and clergy of London,
but also the abbots and priors. Now, the right to
visit them rested either with the diocesan or with the
pope. Of late years the archbishop had occasionally
summoned them to a visitation; but it was only on
the ground that, in addition to the powers he possessed
as an archbishop, he also possessed a legatine autho-
rity. But the jurisdiction of the pope had been
abolished by a late Act of Parliament, and the right
of visiting monasteries had been at the same time
expressly transferred to the king. The archbishop had,
indeed, through inadvertence, incurred the penalty of

486 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, a praemunire when he summoned the regulars to his
^^ visitation. This was the more remarkable since the

Cranmer okiec^ ^or wmcn ne summoned them was, that he might
1533-56. announce to them that the Bishop of Rome was not
God's vicar upon earth ; and that though the king
retained such of the Bishop of Rome's laws as were
good, they were to be obeyed only on the ground that
they were commanded by the king. This was said to
meet the charge brought against him by Gardyner.
This difficulty, like the last, was also overcome by the
mere fact of Crum well's treating it as a matter of no
importance. He could not afford to have the arch-
bishop distracted by professional controversies bearing
upon no public interests, when the service of the country
had a demand upon his thoughts and time.

The conduct of Henry, in cutting the Gordian knot
by taking into his own hands the question of the
divorce, had perplexed the counsels of his friend and
ally the King of France. But Francis I. did not
even yet despair of effecting a reconciliation between
England and Rome. If an untoward event — in the
detention of an English ambassador, who was expected
at Rome by the friends of peace at the papal court,—
had not strengthened the hands of the Imperialists, the
French king might have succeeded ; for there was a
party in the conclave favourable to the compromise ;
and Henry himself was willing to make concessions
if the Archbishop of Canterbury's judgment in the
divorce case had been confirmed.

It is obvious, however, that if Henry was willing
to concede something for the sake of peace, he was,
nevertheless, nearly persuaded that the breach be-
tween England and Rome was really irreparable.
Legislation in Church matters was to proceed. Henry
addressed his own powerful intellect to the subject,

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 487

and to Cranmer the king confided the conduct of CHAP.
ecclesiastical affairs in Parliament. Cranmer, how- _L_
ever, was, when thus acting, in the strictest sense of Jho™^
the word, the mere minister, servant, and agent of the 1533.56.
king. Henry encouraged freedom of discussion, and
was not impatient of contradiction ; but when once
his mind was made up and he had signified his will
to his servants, he was to be obeyed. To the people
at large the Parliament spoke ; but within the walls
every one felt Henricus loquitur, whose voice soever
he was pleased to employ.

Everything proceeded in an orderly manner. In
1531, before the time of Cranmer, as we have seen in
tin- Life of Warham, the convocations of Canterbury
and York took the first step for establishing the in-
dependence of our Church by recognising the king
" as the singular protector, the only supreme governor,
and, .fifiir as L'lu'ixf 2"'/'""'ts, the supreme head of the
English Church and clergy." The next step to our
independence was in 1532, when the convocations
consented to a revision of ecclesiastical law by thirty
commissioners to be nominated by the king, without
any reference to Rome. The altered circumstances of
the Church seemed to require immediate legislation ;
and to this important object the attention of Parlia-
ment was directed when it met in 1534. It is to be
remembered that the business was chiefly conducted
in the House of Lords, where the lay lords were only
between twenty and thirty in number, and where, the
abbots being still in existence, the spiritual lords
formed a majority. The legislation was, in fact,
conducted by a majority consisting of ecclesiastics,
who were thus almost unanimous in carrying out
the first steps of the Reformation.

The legislative enactments of the Parliament of

488 LIVES OF THE

CHAP. 1533-4 are of such great importance, and are so closely
_^__ connected with the history of Cranmer, that we must
Thomas revert to them as briefly as possible.

Lranmer. J

1533-56. The fi^st act of permanent importance relates to
the appointment of bishops. The appointment to the
bishoprics had for a long period rested virtually with
the king, as we have had frequent occasion to remark.
The king had claimed to nominate, the chapters to
elect, the pope to confirm and afterwards to appoint
by provision, although the grant of the papal bulls
had, unless in some exceptional cases, been made as a
matter of course, when the king, in violation of the
statutes of the realm, was pleased to ask for them.
This application and this issue of bulls were no longer
to be tolerated. It was now ordained and esta-
blished—

" (1) That at every avoidance of every archbishopric or
bishopric within this realm, or in any other the king's do-
minions, the king our sovereign lord, his heirs and successors,
may grant to the prior and convent or the dean and chapter
of the cathedral churches or monasteries where the see of such
archbishopric or bishopric shall happen to be void, a licence
under the great seal, as of old time hath been accustomed, to
proceed to election of an archbishop or bishop of the see so
being void, with a letter missive containing the name of the
person which they shall elect and choose. (2) By virtue of
which licence the said dean and chapter, or prior and convent,
to whom any such licence and letters missive shall be
directed, shall with all speed and celerity in due form elect
and choose the same person named in the said letters
missive, to the dignity and office of the archbishopric or
bishopric so being void, and none other. (3) And if they
do defer or delay their election above twelve days next after
such licence or letters missive to them delivered, that then
for every such default the king's highness, his heirs and
successors, at their liberty and pleasure, shall nominate and
present, by their letters patent under their great seal, such

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY.

a person to the said office and dignity so being void, as they CHAP,
shall think able and convenient for the same. (4) And that
every such nomination and presentment to be made by the Thomas
king's highness, his heirs and successors, if it be to the office Cranmer.
and dignity of a bishop, shall be made to the archbishop and 1533~56-
metropolitan of the province, where the see of the same
bishopric is void, if the see of the said archbishopric be then
full, and not void ; and if it be void then to be made to such
archbishop or metropolitan -within this realm, or in any of
the king's dominions, as shall please the king's highness, his
heirs or successors. (5) And if any such nomination or pre-
sentment shall happen to be made for default of such election
to the dignity or office of any archbishop, then the king's
highness, his heirs or successors, by his letters patent under
his great seal, shall nominate and present such person as they
will dispose to have, the said office and dignity of arch-
bishopric being void, to one such archbishop and two such
bishops, or else to four such bishops within this realm, or
in any of the king's dominions, as shall be assigned by our
said sovereign lord, bis heirs or successors." *

The archbishop or metropolitan of the province in
which the see of the bishopric was void, is required to
imvst and consecrate to the vacant see the person so
elected, and to give and use to him all benedictions,
ceremonies, and other things requisite for the same,
without any suing, procuring, or obtaining any bulls,
letters, or other things from the see of Rome for the
same in any behalf. The act concludes with enforcing
the penalty for not electing or consecrating the person
named in the letter missive, namely—

" That every dean and particular person of his chapter, and
every archbishop and bishop, and all other persons, so offend-
ing and doing contrary to this act, or any part thereof, and
their aiders, counsellors, and abettors, shall run into the
dangers, pains, and penalties of the Statute of the Provision

Large, ii. 19:2.

490 LIVES OF THE

CHAP. and Prsemunire, made in the five and twentieth year of the
III. reign of King Edward the Third, and in the sixteenth year
Thomas of King Eichard the Second." *

Cranmer.

1533-56. The collection of Peterpence and other payments to
Eome was prohibited ; and the Archbishop of Canter-
bury was empowered to grant such licences and dis-
pensations as had heretofore been obtained from the
see of Rome, including those which had been made to
the king It was enacted—

" That the archbishop for the time being and his successors
shall have power and authority, from time to time, by their
discretions, to give, grant, and dispose, by an instrument under
the seal of the said archbishop, unto your majesty, and to
your heirs and successors, kings of this realm, as well all
manner of such licences, dispensations, compositions, faculties,
grants, rescripts, delegacies, instruments, and all other writ-
ings, for causes not being contrary or repugnant to the Holy
Scriptures and laws of God, as heretofore hath been used
and accustomed to be had and obtained by your highness,
or any your most noble progenitors, or any of your or their
subjects, at the see of Eome, or any person or persons by
authority of the same : and all other licences, dispensations,
faculties, compositions, grants, rescripts, delegacies, instru-
ments, and other writings, in, for, and upon all such causes
and matters as shall be convenient and necessary to be had,
for the honour and surety of your highness, your heirs and
successors, and the wealth and profit of this your realm, so
that the said archbishop or any of his successors in no
manner wise grant any dispensation, licence, rescript, or any
other writing afore rehearsed, for any cause or matter re-
pugnant to the law of Almighty God." -J-

* 25 Ed. III. stat. 5, c. 22 ; 16 Ric. II. c. 5; 26 Hen. VIII. c.
14 ; 31 Hen. VIII. c. 9 ; 8 Eliz. c. 1 ; Eep. 1 and 2 Ph. and M.
c. 8 ; and revised by 1 Eliz. c. 1 ; and see further 23 Eliz. c. 1.

f Statutes at Large, ii. 194. — From the original documents,
where they have been misrepresented or misunderstood, I ab-
breviate, and give the substance only of those which contain what
is admitted by all .writers.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 491

Provision was made for the reservation of the rights CHAP.

in
of the Archbishop of York and the respective diocesans _^-L

of the two provinces. But now a question arose as J^^
to the treatment of the exempt monasteries, — of those 1533-06.
monasteries which, in bygone days, had poured count-
less sums of money into the papal treasury to become
independent of the bishops, and to secure the pope for
their visitor. Crumwell had already called the atten-
tion of his royal master to that mine of wealth which
might be opened by the confiscation of monastic pro-
perty ; and it was expressly enacted that the visitato-
rial powers, as regarded those monasteries, should not
be restored to the bishop of the diocese, but that they
should rest in the king.

Thus far had the Keformation advanced. Neither
Henry nor Cranmer was a theorist. They had no par-
ticular schemes of their own to carry. They found the
Church of England bowed down by the galling tyranny
of Borne — through powers gradually usurped. AVhen.
they had asserted the freedom of the national Church,
and declared the king to be " in all causes and over all
persons, civil and ecclesiastical, within his dominions
supreme," they had to legislate, not with a view to
further their preconceived opinions, but simply to meet
the difficulties arising from the circumstances under
which they were placed. In an age of inquiry they
soon discovered that the Catholic faith, though always
preserved in the three Creeds, had been obscured by
superincumbent superstitions ; and they sought as they
were discovered, one by one, to remove them.

They did not seek to eradicate the Catholic religion,
but to the hour of their death they each of them
professed to adhere to it and to advance the cause of
Catholicism as the cause of truth. They would only
separate it from Papistry.

492 LIVES OF THE

CHAP. The difference between the two friends was clearly

in
^-^ seen by Henry. Henry was of a conservative temper,

Cranmer anc^ wou^ move slowly, while Cranmer, though slow

1533-56. to receive a truth, laboured eagerly when he had

accepted it for its promulgation. Both were frequently

inconsistent, the one urged on by his passions, and the

other retarded by his weakness.

During the recess of parliament, the Archbishop
was engaged in the discharge of his various ecclesias-
tical duties, and in invigorating his mind for the work
which he saw before him.

The parliament and convocation resumed their
sittings at the beginning of November. Before that
time, the breach between the Church of England and
the see of Rome had become irreparable. Through
the intrigues of the Imperialists, favoured by a circum-
stance to which I have before alluded, the negotiations
of Francis I. to create a good understanding between
the courts of England and Home had failed. The
judgment of the Lord Primate of England had been
reversed by the Bishop of Eome ; and Henry was
required under pain of excommunication to separate
from his new queen.

The Reformation was now accomplished, so far as
the independence of the Church of England was
concerned.

The insult offered to the realm, through the excom-
munication of the king, filled every true English heart
with indignation. The nation acted as if it had been
one man. Cranmer and Gardyner, the secular and the
regular, the men of the old learning and of the new,
were all aroused. The Government was wide awake.
The king emerged from his dissipations, and was a tower
of strength. The whole country was in a state of fer-
ment. The Privy Council directed the bishops to consult

Ai:rHBI>HOl'S OF CANTERBURY. 493

as to the means to be adopted in this new position of
tlu- Church. Convocation directed that the act of
parliament which subjected all who made appeal to Thomas
the court of Borne to the penalties of a prsemunire, 1533.56
should be put in force. It had already announced the
great dogma of the Council of Constance, that a
general council represented the Church, and was above
the pope and all other bishops ; it now added that
" the Bishop of Home has no greater jurisdiction given
him in this realm of England than any other foreign
bishop." *

Thus was the Church of England by a synodical act
separated for ever, except during a few years in Queen
Mary's reign, from the see of Rome, or certainly until
that see ceases to be guilty of Mariolatry, and abstains
from asserting the infallibility — that is, the continuous
miraculous inspiration — of the pope. The Convocation
of York, as soon as possible, concurred with the
southern province in the solemn renunciation of the
papal supremacy : and the example set by the two
convocations was followed by the two universities,
and by all the capitular, and even by the conventual
bodies throughout the realm, f The archbishop also
gave directions in convocation, that in all petitions,
citations or addresses made to him, the title of
Metropolitan was to be inserted, and that of Legate
omitted.

To the archbishop's energy, at this time, contem-
porary evidence is borne ; and though his speeches in
parliament and convocation have not been reported,
they are said to have produced a powerful effect upon

* Wilkins, iii. 769.

t The renunciations were preserved for many years in the Court
of Exchequer. Numerous specimens may be read in the Feeders.
Henry Wharton read many of them, and saw more.

494 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, the minds of his hearers. This was the most active,
_^L, the most busy, and consequently the most brilliant

Janme8 ePocn °f h*8 ^e- He was giving proof to those who
1533-56. nad. disparaged his abilities that he was rising to his
position. The unanimity with which the pope was
rejected was only what those who have perused these
volumes would have expected. Cranmer's argument
was this : — What was given might be recalled by
those who gave it. The papal jurisdiction was not
of divine right, it was a gradual concession won from
this Church and realm. The Church and realm
resumed what they had for a time conceded. The
" De vera differentia Kegice Potestatis et Ecclesiasticae"
of Edward Fox, bishop of Hereford, appeared in
1534, and the "De vera Obedientia" of Stephen
Gardyner, bishop of Winchester, was published in
the following year. It was a national, not a party
or a Protestant movement.*

Proclamation was made for the erasure of the
Bishop of Rome's name from all office-books in the
Church. An act of parliament at length conceded
to the king what had long before been granted
by convocation, the title of Supreme Head of the
Church, together with the power, which the name
implied, to correct grievances, and to call defaulters
to account.

Availing himself of the state of public feeling,
Crumwell suggested, and Cranmer was not the man
to contravene the suggestion, that the exactions of
the pope, such as the payment of first-fruits and
tenths of all dignities spiritual, ought to be handed
over to the king to renumerate him for the expense

* This fact is admitted by Butler, one of the moet candid
of partisans. — Historical Memoirs of English (Eoman) Catholics,
i. 162.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 495

he would incur in discharging the office of supreme CHAP.

head. JJL

There was another bill introduced by the archbishop, Thomas

J r Cranmer.

which was rendered expedient, if not absolutely neces- 1533-56.
saiy, by the altered circumstances of the country. We
have had often occasion to observe that, during the
preceding two hundred years, bishops who were not
diocesans had been frequently employed to perform
the necessary episcopal acts when the diocesan was
engaged in the service of the state, or incapacitated
for duty by the infirmities of old age. Bishops in
jx'trtilj'is, foreign bishops who had been driven by
faction from their own dioceses, bishops sent by the
pope to officiate in those exempt monasteries which
rejected the services of the diocesan, had been
at various times and in various ways employed.
Against these curate-bishops, as we may call them,
a popular clamour had of late years been raised ; a
subject to which the reader's attention has been called
more than once. People who lived on the lands of a
diocesan, and who supported him by paying their
dues, demanded that he should perform his duty in
person. But if bishops were still to be employed
in public affairs, as was the case with Cranmer and
Gardyner, they would, while, as a general rule, they
discharged their own duties, require, nevertheless,
occasional assistance, which would also be requisite in
cases of sickness or old age. It was proposed, there-
fore, to legalise the appointment, under definite regu-
lations, of assistant-bishops, and at the same time to
give them a certain status in the country.

As this subject has come frequently under discussion
of late years, and some readers may like to see what
was proposed to be done in this direction during the
progress of the Reformation, I shall present them with

496 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, the main provisions of the act. The preamble refers

^-v-L to the consecrations and ordinations which had been

Granmer regularly conducted from the commencement of the

1533-56. parliament then sitting, and proceeds to say that

some provision was necessary for the appointment

of suffragans, who had hitherto been employed in

this realm : —

" For the more speedy administration of the sacraments and
other good, wholesome, and devout things and laudable cere-
monies, to the increase of God's honour, and for the commodity
of good and devout people: Be it therefore enacted by
authority of this present Parliament, that the towns of
Thetford, Ipswich, Colchester, Dover, Guilford, Southamp-
not, Taunton, Shaftesbury, Molton, Marlborough, Bedford,
Leicester, Gloucester, Shrewsbury, Bristow, Penrith, Bridg-
water, Nottingham, Grantham, Hull, Huntington, Cambridge,
and the towns of Pereth and Berwick, St. Germains in Corn-
wall, and the Isle of Wight, shall be taken and accepted for
sees of bishops suffragans to be made in this realm, and in
Wales, and the bishops of such sees shall be called suffragans
of this realm ; and that every archbishop and bishop of this
realm, and of Wales, and elsewhere within the king's
dominions, being disposed to have any suffragans, shall and
may at their liberties name and elect, that is to say, every
of them for their peculiar diocese, two honest and discreet
spiritual persons, being learned, and of good conversation, and
those two persons so by them to be named, shall present to
the king's highness, by their writing under their seals, making
humble request to his majesty, to give to one such of the said
two persons, as shall please his majesty, such title, name, style
and dignity of bishop of such of the sees above specified, as
the king's highness shall think most convenient for the same ;
and that the king's majesty, upon every such presentation,
shall have full power and authority to give to one of those
two persons so to his highness to be presented, the style,
title, and name of a bishop of such of the sees aforesaid, as to
his majesty shall be thought most convenient and expedient,
so it be within the same province whereof the bishop that

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 497

doth name him is. And that every such person to •whom the cHAr.

king's highness shall give any snch style and title of any of nl-

the sees aforesaid shall be called bishop suffragan of the same Thomas

see whereunto he shall be named."* Cranmer.

1533-56.

By another provision of the act such suffragan is to
be accounted to hold the same rank and dignity as
any other archbishop or bishop. Of this act, although
it is still in force, very little use has ever been made.

Cranmer saw nothing of the court at this period of
his life. Although the king delighted in Cranmer's
society, he felt that his court, when over it Queen
Ann presided, and when the king was indulging his
propensities for gambling, was not the fit place for a
prelate, to whom, though he had no tendency to Puri-
tanism, the sound of the dice-box could not be pleasant
music. The queen, too, though aware that, to a con-
siderable extent, she owed her crown to Cranmer, and
although she found it expedient to be regarded as a
patroness of the " New Learning" party, was not anxious
for the restraint which the constant presence of Cranmer
would have imposed upon a court very different, in its
character, from that of Queen Katherine. At the same
time, Crumwell was not desirous of having at court one
who, now sufficiently subservient, might have become
a rival. Cranmer's character was not at present well
known, and he was evidently neglected. AYe gather
this from his correspondence. He was treated with
respect, but was regarded as a man who, having re-
ceived his mitre for a special object, and having ful-
filled the purposes of his appointment, was no longer
required. After the Dunstable divorce, Cranmer was
no longer called to the councils of the king. Some
time elapsed before. Henry discovered his merits. 01 fully
appreciated the value of his friendship. A kind of

* Statutes at Large, ii. 216.
VOL. VI. K K

498 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, cloud overshadowed all who had been concerned in
_^_L persecuting Queen Katherine. Even the king, when
Cranmer ^Q ^ac^ secure^ what he so long and iniquitously
1533-56. laboured to obtain, was evidently ashamed of his
conduct. The notices we have of his sharp sayings
to Queen Ann indicate this ; and her heartless conduct
towards Katherine caused, in some measure, the alien-
ation of his affections from the latter.

And so Cranmer was permitted to retire from public
life, and to relax himself in the bosom of his family.
This, probably, was one of the happiest periods of his
life. We find him at Adlington, a seat of the arch-
bishop, near Ashford in Kent. Here we are told was a
park and a chase of deer ; and here he indulged in those
field sports which, from his boyhood, had been to him a
source of recreation and delight. But he chiefly took
up his abode at Otford and Ford ; here he enjoyed the
society of his chosen companions and friends, and here
we can have little doubt that he employed his learned
leisure in realizing some of the important truths which
were everywhere under discussion. He was a man of
the " New Learning," and was at the head of the " New
Learning" party. The new learning in England had
not any definite principles; or rather its one principle
consisted in a readiness to advance, a willingness to
examine any subject brought upon the tapis. It was
a time to inquire ; the time to dogmatize had not
arrived.

So completely was Cranmer put aside as a public
man at this period, that he was kept in ignorance as to
the ordinary news of the day, and knew not what was
going on at court. He would probably have been long
left to the unostentatious discharge of his pastoral
duties, had not his services been again required.

He was thus usefully employed, and enjoying his

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 499

new honours, when, to his surprise and alarm, he CHAP.
suddenly and unexpectedly received a command to __^
proceed, without loss of time, to the metropolis. cSmer

On the 2d of May he arrived at Lambeth. The 1533-55.
first peer of the realm was alone in his glory. No-
body was waiting to receive him, or to explain the
proceedings of the council ; he was simply com-
manded to remain at home till sent for. There was
probably an intention to overawe him ; for if he had
refused to obey the king's command, as was not
improbable, there would have been an insuperable
difficulty in carrying out the royal will with respect
to the queen ; and we must repeat the remark that
Cranmer's character, in its weakness and its strength,
was at this time untested and unknown.

The rumour reached the archbishop that Queen Arm
was a prisoner in the Tower. It was strange, that
no notice of this proceeding had been given to the
chief member of the Privy Council ; but the generous
spirit of Cranmer thought not a moment of this. He
would at once drop down the river to Greenwich,
where his royal master was at that time residing,
to plead for the queen and advise the king. He
ordered his barge. It was notified to him, that
peremptory orders had been given that, until sum-
moned to court, the primate was to confine himself to
his house. In his house, in fact, the archbishop was a
prisoner. His heart, however, was too full for silence.
He saw the difficulties of the case. He pitied the un-
fortunate queen, and addressed a letter to her husband
—the letter of a generous, kind-hearted, timid man,
anxious to plead the queen's cause. But as he wrote
he became aware that he knew nothing of the case ;
and that he could only express his readiness to obey
the king's commands — which, — his readiness to obey,

K K 2

500 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, —was, in fact, all that the king required, — a doubt
Ji_L> having been entertained whether coercion would, in
Thomas j^g case |)e necessary.

{Jramner. ' »

1533-56. The letter had hardly been written when the lord
chancellor's barge was seen at the landing-place. He
was commissioned to lay before the archbishop certain
revelations relating to the queen's conduct. The
object was to see what impression these revelations
would make on the archbishop's mind. The king was
determined upon a divorce at least ; would the arch-
bishop act obsequiously in this case, as he had done
in that of Queen Katherine ? This was the question.
Would the archbishop commit himself as a partisan on
the side of the king ? The chancellor saw at a glance,
that Cranmer would not hesitate to do what the king
might demand of him. That point gained, the rest
was not worthy of a thought. The letter had better
go. It was creditable for the archbishop to have
written it; it would be creditable to the king to
receive it. All that was really needful was done
when the primate added to his letter that, under all
circumstances, he was ready to act the part of a true
and loyal subject. The archbishop might form his
own opinion of the case ; and the king, when he had
made up his mind and felt secure of carrying his point,
found amusement in having his opinions canvassed.
The chancellor was quite satisfied, when he saw that
the judge before whom the case would be tried would
give the judgment required.

The primate was now invited to take his place in
the Star Chamber.

The whole plan had been devised before the arch-
bishop was secured. On the 25th of April, a court
of inquiry had been opened, consisting of the lord
chancellor, with the Earls of Oxford and Sussex;

AECHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 501

and it was with the result of these investigations that

the primate was now made acquainted. It does not

come within my province to enter into the merits of

this cause i All the proceedings relating to 1533-56.

Ann Boleyn are involved in the greatest obscurity ;

a remark which is applicable to all the state trials in

the reign of Henry VIII. Hereafter, perhaps, from

the publication of foreign documents, some light may

be thrown on the subject ; but the domestic records of

her trial, and of the trial of those who were in the

same accusation, have been carefully destroyed. What

has come down to us has only been the gossip of the

day, from which the most opposite conclusions have

been deduced. The atrocity of the crimes laid to her

charge must, to every impartial mind, speak in her

favour. When men have recourse to their imaoina-

tion and invent facts, tb-y know not when or where
to stop. In order to support their lie they overstate
their case. That Ann Boleyn should have plunged at
once into such filth of wickedness as that by which
she is overwhelmed by her accusation, is inconsistent
with her antecedent history. Frivolous and vain she
but not a licentious woman ; if she had not been
cold in her temperament, she would have yielded
sooner to the solicitations of Henry. Of her ambition,
of her heartless, unfeeling conduct towards her royal
mistress, whom she supplanted, of her vindictive } 9-
sions, I have spoken freely ; but we require far stronger
proofs than we } to induce a belief that she was

guilty of the crimes laid to her charge. She wa
great deal too clever a woman to be guilty. It is much
easier to believe what is stated by a contemporary —
that she fell a victim to a conspiracy. Two parties
were combined against her, and probably conspired
for her ruin. Her hostility to Eome was premised,

502 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, and the Reformers claimed her as their own. The
^-^, party of the " Old Learning" were desirous, therefore,
Cranmer °^ withdrawing the infatuated king from an influence
1533-56. always employed against them. At the same time,
her vindictive passions were as vehement, as her am-
bition to rule the country, through her husband, was
unendurable. She never forgave. This Crumwell knew.
The minister had offended the queen, and he had
before his eyes full proof of her power and of her
relentless malignity in the fate of Wolsey, of More,
and of Fisher. If the king himself was, half-con-
sciously, blind to the iniquities of his minister, yet
that minister himself knew that when the growing dis-
content of the people had proceeded to a certain ex-
tent, he would then be thrown over by his master, like
the prophet of old, to appease the storm. The queen
had her eyes open ; she openly attacked Crumwell, and
threatened to inform the king that, under the disguise
of the Gospel and religion, he and those who acted under
him were thinking of their own interests rather than
of his ; that without accounting to him, Crumwell had
amassed a large fortune ; that he had put everything
up for sale ; and that he was accustomed to take bribes
to confer ecclesiastical benefits on unworthy persons.
She had thus the extreme imprudence to make Crum-
well her enemy, vainly supposing that her influence
over the king was greater than his. Crumwell felt
that one of the two must be sacrificed. The means
were soon provided. A league existed between him
and Wriothesly. Though attached to the " old learn-
ing," Wriothesly was co-operating with Crumwell, and,
through Cromwell's assistance, was enriching himself
by the spoils of the monasteries. At the same time,
between Wriothesly and Gardyner, bishop of Win-
chester and at this time ambassador at the court of

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 503

France, a close correspondence was kept up. The CHAP.
ambassador, in his correspondence, retailed the gossip ^1^
to the French court, which was amused by the report, Thomas
that the woman for whom King Henry had risked his 1533.56
crown, and imperilled his throne, had played him false ;
and the Bishop of Winchester added, that certain
letters were produceable which would prove the
adultery of the queen. All this has certainly a very
suspicious appearance. These letters were sent over
to England, and by the bishop's steward they were
placed in the hands of Wriothesly. Wriothesly com-
municated them to Crurnwell, who was probably
already acquainted with the contents. Crumwell is
described as being at this time " the king's ear and
mind," to whom he had entrusted the entire govern-
ment of the kingdom. What was made known to
Crumwell was confidentially made known to the king.
Henry's wrath, though deadly, was concealed until the
had been investigated by Crumwell in conjunction
with Wriothesly. Their fear of the queen, we are
expressly told, induced them to act the part of spies.
They caused her private apartments to be watched day
and nio-lit. Her servants were bribed. To the ladies

of her bedchamber there was scarcely anything which
they did not promise, if they would only criminate
their mistress. The ladies were aware how bitterly
the king had expressed his disappointment that Ann's
child was not a boy, and they suspected that his affec-
tions had wandered elsewhere. By accusing the queen
they were sure to gain the king's favour. At length
the conspirators considered that they had proofs suffi-
cient of the queen's guilt. The council was sum-
moned to meet at Greenwich on the 30th of April.
to devise measures for the queen's trial. The public-
were not yet apprised of the suspicions which had

504 LIVES OF THE

CHAP been entertained of their beautiful queen ; and she,
though she knew that an attack was about to be made

Thomas upon her, was not aware of the extent, or perhaps of the
nature, of the charge. She was a consummate actress,

1500-00.

and played her part well, though not successfully.
While the council was assembling at the palace of
Greenwich, each great man arriving with the display
of pomp then customary, the king was seen at an
open window looking down on the courtyard below,
filled with spectators. He liked to show himself,
and to participate in whatever afforded amusement to
his subjects. Then the queen was seen approaching
him with all her accustomed elegance and grace, bear-
ing her babe in her arms, that babe being Elizabeth,
the future Queen of England. She was seen to be
entreating the king with great earnestness, to grant
her some request. What was going on was of course
unintelligible to the people in the courtyard; they
only perceived, from the face and gestures of the
queen, that the king was . angry, though such was his
mastery over himself, that the extent of his anger — its
deadliness — was concealed. We have all this from an
eye-witness ; and we may infer that, up to this time,
the queen was not aware of the terrible nature of the
charges brought against her. The council sat long
and late. The crowd remained to see the lords depart
until it was dark. The council was left sitting when
the people took boat and crossed to London. It was
noised abroad that some deep and difficult question
was under discussion, but still the object of the debate
was unknown, until the Londoners were awakened by
the booming of the cannon, which announced that some
person of high rank had been committed to the Tower.*

* The authority for these statements is a letter of Alexander
Aless to Queen Elizabeth, which has lately been discovered among

AECHBISHOPS OF CANTERBUKY. 505

The archbishop was not summoned to the council. CHAP.
He was appointed confessor to the queen. He appears
to have been at this time, almost a prisoner at

.. Cranmer.

Lambeth. 1533_56>

This is one of the many unaccountable circumstances
by which we are perplexed. It is clear that the
enemies of the queen designed to prevent Cranmer from
having an interview with the king lest he should urge
him to show mercy ; and the king, having made up his
mind to act, may have chosen to save himself from
useless solicitation on the subject. It was, however,
signified to Cranmer on the 1 6th of May, that on the
following morning he would have officially to act
towards Queen Ann as he had acted towards Queen
Katherine ; — that the king required of him that he
should pronounce his second marriage, like the first, to
have been from the beginning a nullity. The arch-
bishop was an early riser. He rose rather earlier than
usual on the morning of the 1 7th of May. The anxiety
of his mind prevented him from taking rest, and before
four o'clock he was walking in his garden. To his
surprise he met there Alexander Aless, to whom we are
indebted for the statement just submitted to the
reader. Alexander had been himself disturbed in his
sleep. He had dreamt that the queen was beheaded ;
and crossing the Thames, he had sought to calm his
perturbed spirit by taking a walk in the Lambeth
garden. He apologized to the archbishop for his
intrusion, and narrated the circumstances of his dream.

the State Papers. He was himself among the crowd who witnessed
the last interview hetween Ann Boleyn and her husband. There
was no one more competent than Aless to relate these affairs, for
he was at this time intimate with Crumwell. He had no reason
to accuse Crumwell wrongfully, for Crumwell was his benefactor
and patron ; yet I cannot but suspect that he coloured his state-
ments, that they might be the more acceptable to Elizabeth.

506 LIVES OF THE

CHAP. The archbishop listened in silence, until at length he

TTT •

_^_1_ said, " Don't you know what is to happen to-day ?"
Thomas Aless stated that since the day of the queen's imprison-

Cranmer. • *

1553-56. nient he had heard no public news. The archbishop
solemnly raised his eyes to heaven and said, " She who
has been Queen of England on earth, will this day
become a queen in heaven," and he burst into tears.*

The question forces itself on the mind — Could
Cranmer really have said this ? Was this attestation
of the queen's innocence invented by Aless, in flattery
to Ann Boleyn's daughter ? If the assertion be true,
Cranmer's conduct was unspeakably bad.

Soon after nine o'clock, the barges of the Earls of
Oxford and Sussex appeared at the steps of the castle
at Lambeth. The Lord Chancellor, the Master of the
Rolls, Thomas Cruniwell, Vicar-general or Vicegerent,
soon after followed, with many canonists and lawyers.
Dr. Sampson, dean of the Chapel Royal, appeared as
proctor for the king, Dr. Wotton and John Barbour
for the queen. The archbishop appeared in pontifica-
libus, and a procession was formed which entered the
chapel in the crypt. In that cold, dark, sepulchral
apartment the primate took his seat, his assessors on
either side. The proctors of the king and queen in
solemn mockery stood before them, and demanded a
sentence. Archbishop Cranmer addressed them : for
certain just and lawful causes lately brought under his
cognisance, after full investigation, and acting with
judgment, which was to the effect, that the pretended
advice of counsel learned in the law, he delivered
marriage between our sovereign lord the king and the
Lady Ann had always been without effect. The jydg-
ment was sealed on the 10th of June.f The solemn

* State Papers, Elizabeth, 528.
t Wilkins, iii. 803, 104.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 507

farce did not end here. Convocation was summoned.
Before the members of both houses the judgment was
laid, and by them it was. on the 28th of June, sub- Thomas

• Lranmer.

scribed. 1533-56.

The object of this mode of proceeding it is difficult
to surmise. Antecedently to this, the queen had been
condemned by the lay judges ; she was sentenced to
be either burned or beheaded at the king's pleasure,
that is, to be executed as he might decide. It was left
to him to decide whether she should suffer as a heretic
or as a traitor. But the king's rage against her appears
to have known no bounds. His object now seems to
have been to bastardize her daughter, though in doing
so he stultified his previous conduct. If Ann had
never been his wife, Elizabeth, though her daughter,
was illegitimate; and if the marriage was null ah initio,
then Ann, though she had been unfaithful to the king,
was not guilty of adultery.

Then, again, what was the impediment pleaded by
the king, not denied by the queen, and accepted by
Cranmer, which rendered this marriage a nullity ? The
fact is indisputable, that the unhappy queen, acting
under a promise that her life would be spared, made
some admission, the nature of which has never tran-
spired. On the strength of this promise she expected,
almost to the hour of her death, to receive a reprieve ;
and talked of settling at Antwerp. But when the
king had gained his object, a violation of his promise
on this occasion was added to the long catalogue of
his crimes. It were waste of time to offer conjectures
as to the nature of the confession made by the queen
in regard to some fact which nullified her marriage, —
something distinct from the charge of adultery. It
has been supposed that she consented to plead a pre-
contract with Lord Percy ; but in the first plae^, there

508

LIVES OF THE

CHAP, is no reason why such a statement should be sur-
_^_ rounded by mystery, and in the next place Lord
Thomas Percy twice made solemn oath on the sacrament,

Cranmer. •/.

1533-56. that into such contract he had never entered. With
greater probability it has been conjectured that the
confession of Ann related to the horrible fact that
Henry had intrigued with her sister Mary long
before his engagement with Ann. The objection to
this view of the case is, that it would be for the king,
not for the queen, to make confession on this point ;
and that Cranmer had argued powerfully to prove
that no such affinity was contracted by the illicit
intercourse of a man and woman as to vitiate
any subsequent marriage.* But the supposition of

* He argued this point most ably in the unpublished paper
in the Cottonian Library, to which allusion has been made
before. That Mary Boleyn had been the mistress of the king, is
now very generally believed. The fact was openly stated by Pole
in his De Unitate Ecclesice ; and his words imply that the fact
was by no means a secret. Henry did not deny the truth of
the charge ; but, on the contrary, the greatest care seems to
have been taken in the correspondence with Eome, as well as
in Cranmer's paper, to make broad the distinction between con-
sanguinity and affinity. The only object appears to have been, to
guard against this being urged as an impediment to the king's
marriage with Ann. It appears to me not improbable that Ann
Boleyn's long resistance to the addresses of her royal lover may
have had reference to this fact. There are certainly some suspicious
passages in an act of parliament quoted by Lingard, which may
induce us to suppose that when Henry determined to rid himself
of Ann Boleyn, he placed affinity on the same footing as con-
sanguinity. I submitted the document containing Cranmer's
argument to a learned lawyer, and his opinion is that the consider-
ation of the case of affinity forms so naturally a part of Cranmer's
able argument, that it is not of necessity to be inferred that he was
at that time aware of Mary Boleyn's case. But we know too little
of the facts of the case to form an opinion. I ^merely give the
statements.

AECHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY 509

his allusion to this story will account for the extreme
anger of the king, who wished to conceal it. The
whole is a sad and disgraceful story, from whatever
point of view we regard it ; and of Cranmer's conduct
in the affair, the less that his admirers say, the greater
will be their discretion.

END OF THE SIXTH VOLUME.

LONDON :

R. CLAY, SON, AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS,
BREAD STREET HILL.

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